


Quest-ioning Everything

by artku



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: 100 Year Quests (Fairy Tail), Adventure & Romance, Angst, Ecchi, F/F, F/M, Grayza - Freeform, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Humor, It gets better after the first few chapters! Promise! Everyone says this but I mean it, Like literally such a slow burn that Natsu would serve the fire at a barbecue, Skip to Chapter 14 if you are here for Chendy, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2020-04-06 03:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 66,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19054213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artku/pseuds/artku
Summary: Team Natsu thought they had their lives all figured out. Especially Erza Scarlet. But life hasn't developed quite how she pictured it. Embarking on the 100 Years Quest with her nakama, she soon realises that nothing is concrete. As relationships deepen and evolve, each member of the team finds themselves Quest-ioning Everything. Unrelated to 100 Years Quest manga. Have only tagged the major pairings, minor Gajevy, Fraxus and Chendy in the background.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is set after the events of Fairy Tail, during the 100 Years Quest. I may draw on some elements from the 100 Years Quest manga, such as descriptions of the new continent (Giltena) or the odd character, but there will be no spoilers for the manga. It is a wholly different story.

"You sure we've got the right place?" Natsu asked for what felt like the billionth time.

They were presently at the crown of a tall hill, nothing around them on all sides except a grey landscape, brightly illuminated by starlight, that stretched out to the sea. The night was almost eerily still, no mice stirred in the bushes, no owls hooted in the trees. It was almost as though the entire island was waiting with bated breath for what was to come.

"For the last time Flame Breath, yes we're in the right place," Gray replied testily. Natsu turned to him, fist raised, ready to fight but he was interrupted by a familiar no-nonsense voice.

"Enough," Erza said firmly, gesturing towards a sleeping Wendy. It had gotten pretty late and Wendy and Charle were presently curled up on the ground, using Gray's lap as a pillow. "You are sure?" she asked Lucy in an undertone.

Lucy frowned. "The job request told us assemble on the 7th night of the 7th lunar month on the island of magpies. This is the only island that hosts a population of that particular bird. I cross referenced it against four different encyclopaedias. This has got to be it."

The island lay off the coast of the northern continent of Giltena. A singular hill rose from the sea like the curved head of a bird, its sides carpeted by lush greenery that was shaded charcoal by the stars. The summit, however, lay bare and devoid of any vegetation, almost like the bald spot atop the magpie's head. Lucy did not want to admit it but the late hour had her worried too. It was drawing near daybreak and the night would be over in a few hours. If she was wrong then they would have to wait another year to accept the 100 Years Quest. She could not begin to imagine the disappointment on Natsu's face if that happened. She glanced over at the boy who was sitting with an unreadable expression on his face. Nearby, Happy rolled over in his sleep, mumbling something about fish.

Suddenly Natsu spoke, "Happy, Charle, Wendy wake up. It's time."

The others looked around, wondering what Natsu's enhanced dragon slayer skills could have possibly sensed. Gray squinted into the distance but the terrain remained still. Wendy was just rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and asking Natsu what was wrong when he felt it. Magic like nothing he had ever felt before. Goosebumps prickled over his skin and every hair on his body stood on end. The five of them quickly moved back to back into a tight knit circle, all senses on high alert for the first possible sign of danger.

Happy and Charle nervously floated above the humans' heads so they were the first to notice it. A bright green point of light hurtling down from the heavens at an impossible speed. "Above you!" Happy yelled and barely managed to shove Lucy and Natsu out of the way. The light came to an abrupt halt inches from the ground and then floated slowly back upwards to eyelevel.

"Be you the 99th Questers?" it spoke. The voice was a feminine one that commanded absolute authority. Even Erza felt a quiver in her knees at the sound.

"Yo, that's us!" Natsu replied in his usual carefree manner, a thumb pointed towards his chest, "Who're you?" His ability to remain unintimidated by everything was remarkable.

"I am Vega, the daughter of the Heavenly Emperor, giver of the Quest."

"Vega? Isn't that a star?" Lucy wondered aloud, "it's in the celestial constellation of Lyra if I recall correctly."

"Oh! So you've got to be friends with the Celestial Spirit King!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Isn't Vega a kind of fish?" Happy asked, his mouth watering.

"That's  _boga_ , dummy!"

"Charle, you shouldn't be so mean to Happy-san."

"That's right Charle, he can't help it. Look who raised him."

"You wanna go, droopy eyes?"

"Come at me, squinty eyes!"

"Boys, don't fight! Vega? Aren't you the one from the story of the weaver and the cowherd? What a frightful shame, not to be with the one you love. This is a tragedy of epic proportions!"

"Um Erza-san, please get up."

"Come to think of it, I think I've read that story in one of Levy-chan's books"

"Hmmm fissshhhh." Charle managed to grab a hold of a drooling Happy's tail seconds before he launched himself hungrily at the otherworldly light, a light that was getting increasingly agitated, if the red stressmark that appeared at its side was to be believed.

"Quiet!" it yelled, "I've only got another 45 minutes so listen up!"

"Not our fault you were late," Natsu muttered, put off.

"Hey Natsu, maybe you shouldn't be quite so rude?" Lucy whispered.

The light ignored them and carried on in agitated tones, "I am Vega, daughter of the Heavenly Emperor. Yes, I know Lyra, she is my daughter. No, I am not a Celestial Spirit. No, I am not friends with the Celestial Spirit King, I was there long before he existed and I shall remain long after he is gone. And NO, I am not a fish!" The light flickered pointedly in Happy's direction at the last sentence. Temporary detour completed, the voice returned to its former sweeping tones. "Now, I shall only say this once so listen well. There are but two rules should you choose to take up the Quest. The first, you may never, under any circumstances, speak of the details of the Quest to anyone. The second, only those who sign the contract may proceed with the Quest. Any outside participation renders the Quest null and void. Should one of you lose your life, the other Questers may continue on. Should you all lose your lives, the Quest is reset. If at any point you choose to abandon the Quest, you must drink the Potion of Abdication that is in the vials that have just appeared before you, and your contract will be terminated. The Quest is dangerous, no mortal has completed it for over a hundred years. Knowing the risk, do you still wish to embark on this journey?"

Erza grabbed one of the seven inch-long ampoules of glowing green liquid that had materialised before the group. "We're here," she began.

"Aren't we?" Gray finished for her, a challenging smirk on his face.

"The contract is a blood oath, press a drop of your blood to the sigil before you when you are ready."

The air shimmered as seven fluorescent green sigils took shape where seconds ago the Potions of Abdication had appeared. Lucy nervously watched Erza requip a blade and swiftly slash her palm. Next to her Gray did the same with an ice blade. Natsu savagely bit his finger to draw blood. "I'm getting fired up!" he said, pressing his hand to the sigil. Even little Wendy boldly pulled out a penknife and signed the contract before turning to Charle. Was Lucy the only one with doubts? This quest, a quest even Gildarts had failed, could the seven of them really take it on? Could they finish it? Could they even survive it?

Her mind flashed back to the sea voyage from Hargeon to the island. Her celestial spirit, Virgo, had said something cryptic to her when they were standing on the deck of the ship. "Princess," she had said, "I am forbidden from speaking openly of it but I have a feeling… a premonition that a reunion awaits you on Giltena." She had to have meant Aquarius. There was no way Lucy was turning back now. 'I'm going to press on,' she thought as she pricked her finger with a hairpin, 'because everyone's with me!'

She hurriedly turned to a nervous Happy who was gingerly holding out one paw, the other clamped tight over his eyes. "OK, tell us!" she said as soon as both their sigils glowed, accepting the blood libation, "what's the 100 Years Quest all about?"

* * *

Once long ago," Vega intoned, "the Heavenly Emperor decided to bestow upon the mortal races a Great Gift. To choose the guardians of this gift he held a Great Race. The only animal spirits to finish in time were the Rat, the Ox, the Tiger, the Rabbit, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Goat, the Monkey, the Rooster, the Dog and the Pig. To each of these spirits the Emperor entrusted a Key. Your Quest is to collect the 12 Keys. Complete this task and the Great Gift will be bestowed upon you. Have you any questions?"

"You said no mortal has completed this quest for over a hundred years," Erza asked calmly, "does this mean someone completed it before that?"

"Once," replied Vega, "once, a long time ago a young man with a rare sort of magic completed the Quest and received the Great Gift. However, he angered the Heavenly Emperor with the way he accomplished the task. As punishment the Heavenly Emperor placed a curse upon him that leached away his sanity until all that was left was the desire to destroy. Indeed, you have all met him before."

"Aconologia," Natsu said grimly.

"Now, wait a minute, how did he anger the Heavenly Emperor?" Gray interrupted. What exactly had they gotten themselves into?

"Be kind and just in your endeavours and examine carefully the reasons you have for undertaking the Quest. That is the only advice I can give you. Now before I go, I confer unto you two Clues. The first, this riddle to find the fastest of the Guardians." A stone tablet inscribed with an unidentifiable script appeared before them. Lucy plucked it from the air gently, squinting at the unknown script, trying to make sense of it. "The second Clue, a location. In Southern Valeria, by the realm of the dead. That is where you will find the penultimate Guardian. Take care, young Questers. May the stars shine upon you and guide your way." Vega's voice faded and the light began to dissipate.

"Hey, wait a minute! We still have questions! What is the great gift? What language is this?" Lucy shouted, but it was too late. Vega was gone and their quest had officially begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you're forewarned, I usually write romance/angst/fluff so adventure is a bit new for me. I wrote an adventure story once, over ten years ago, that's how out of touch with it I am. I have planned out the story and I expect it to be about 17 or 18 chapters. The quest is very loosely based upon the Chinese Zodiac so if there are any errors please let me know. I will try to minimise the cultural appropriation as much as possible. Please let me know if my punctuation is terrible (it is) or if any of the characters are OOC.  
> This fic will also be crossposted to FFN (same username) if you prefer that website. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After spending a few weeks gathering intel in the town of Bauxia, Team Natsu gets a lead on one of the Keys!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Contains mild references to the Alvarez Empire arc.

Gray tugged at his scratchy, starched collar, trying hard to resist the urge to strip. He skilfully balanced a trayful of colourful drinks, carrying it to the table of boisterous girls that came into the diner every day to flirt with him. The eatery was always quiet around this time of day, potential patrons choosing not to venture out of their homes in the sweltering Valerian heat. The team was currently in Bauxia, a large town in the Valerian region of southern Giltena. They'd made their way there after Erza had deemed the library at Elmina, their first port of call, inadequate. "To defeat the enemy we must know the terrain intimately," she had declared and Erza brooked no argument. Three weeks later, the team was still in Bauxia and everyone was on edge. They weren't made for staying put in one place for very long.

'She has a point, but I wish we were out of here already,' thought Gray, as he served the drinks. He flashed the table a charming grin before he turned away, ignoring the pouts from the customers unhappy that he had not stayed to chat. He never did. He thanked his stars that he had so far succeeded in keeping his clothes on during his regular shifts at the diner. He could not imagine what would have happened if he had stripped; either the fawning would have doubled or, more likely, he would have been fired unceremoniously from his job and turned into the police. He still had bitter memories of the policemen at the Rose Garden waystation.

He was working as a waiter because his temperament had been deemed unsuitable for poring over books in the library. Or as Happy succinctly put it, 'Gray is too stupid for books.' It brought him some comfort though, that Natsu had been turfed out onto the streets before him. Happy too would've been swiftly dispatched on a reconnaissance mission if Lucy hadn't suggested prudence in sending a talking cat out on the streets of an unknown country. Everything was different in Giltena; the animals, the trees, the people. The ethernano in some places on the continent precipitated right out of the air like snow. Never before had his magic felt this strong. He could feel it rippling right under his skin. It was no wonder the first mages were said to come from Giltena. Legend even had it that Tenrou Island had broken off the Giltenese mainland and drifted south to Ishgar and Gray was hard-pressed to disbelieve it.

"Order up," Natsu called dully from behind the counter. The two boys had taken jobs in the town's busiest diner so that they could pick up gossip about the strange goings on in the continent. So far they'd heard tell of rumblings in a forest to the east and a haunted patch of mangroves by the warm waters of the west coast, but nothing was concrete enough to report back to the group. If things didn't look up soon, they might spend the next several months chasing ghosts across the land, or worse yet, stay put in Bauxia. Gray made his way to the counter to pick up the next order, instantly recognizing the customer by the single slice of strawberry cake. It was strange that he hadn't notice her come in, she was pretty hard to miss.

"I'm taking my break," he called to his boss, a sleepy looking woman in her mid-forties. She waved at him to go ahead. It was their quietest time of day and who was she to stop her handsomest waiter from talking to his pretty girlfriend. "You! Get back to work!" she scolded Natsu a second later. She had far less patience for the boy who nearly burnt down her kitchen on his first day of work.

"Hi." Gray slid into the booth opposite Erza, neatly depositing the cake before her. Erza's eyes lit up at the sight of the fluffy pink confection. "You know," she said casually, "this might be my absolute favourite place to get cake in the whole world."

"That's a bold statement, you haven't been to Alakitasia as yet. Not to a café anyway."

"Their climate is wholly unsuitable for growing strawberries, it is far too arid," she replied authoritatively. Gray snorted, unsurprised that she would know that. He wouldn't be surprised if she knew the intimate details of strawberry production the world over. Nothing rivalled Erza's passion for strawberry cake. Nothing. He watched as she lifted a forkful of cake to her mouth and took a bite, a beatific smile spreading across her face as she chewed. His mouth quirked at the sight.

"Natsu has settled in well hasn't he?" There was a hint of pride in her voice.

"Surprisingly. Shockingly. Who would've thought Natsu Dragneel would make a good fry cook?"

"I think the supervision is keeping him in line." The now-familiar sounds of the proprietor of the establishment berating Natsu wafted over to them. It was a miracle that Natsu was not giving her lip, Gray made a mental note to check if Natsu had a fever later. Maybe it was some kind of long-running illness that had him behaving like an adult.

"You working tonight?" he asked Erza. She only came in for a quick debrief when she knew she wouldn't be seeing them later.

"Yeah, I've got the late shift tonight." She had gotten work as a cigarette girl at a downtown bar, having realised early on that her temperament too was unsuited to long hours in the library. Or as Happy had unwisely put it, "She's a dummy too." He'd sported a large bump on his head for two days after that. The sounds of admonishment faded as the owner followed Natsu into the kitchen. For a few minutes there was no sound in the café but the clink of Erza's fork against china. She flicked her eyes towards Gray's fans and smiled to herself when she clocked the baleful glares she was receiving.

"Anything to report?" she asked in an undertone. It would not do to be overheard, especially when Gray's groupies were clearly straining themselves to listen in on their conversation.

He shook his head. "How much longer are we going to stay here?"

"A week or so, Lucy is almost finished with her research. She has a few promising leads for us to start with."

"The tablet?"

"No. She cannot recognise the language it is in."

"If only we could ask Levy or Freed over the communications lacrima."

Erza shot him a stern look. He knew full well that outside help was not allowed on the quest. That and they couldn't afford to call home more than once a month. They were not flush with cash, especially after the Ishgarian Jewel had almost collapsed in the wake of the war with the Alvarez Empire. The last three weeks had helped them to establish a cash buffer but they were still woefully poor. Every Giltenese Asteroid they earned went into the shared kitty. They were camping outside town, foraging for food in the woods and bathing at the public baths once a week. Part of the reason Natsu and Gray chose to work in a diner was the easy flow of information, the other part, the much larger part, was the free food. They even managed to sneak some to Wendy and the Exceeds every day. Scrounging for money was hellish experience but not one uncommon to the many Fiorian refugees who had fled the continent when the war began. For a war that lasted only a few days, the effects on the country had been cataclysmic. It was hard for anyone to feel safe in their homes after Irene Belserion's Universe One had reshaped their country. Families had been split apart, entire cities moved. Giltena might be overflowing with magical energy but to the commonfolk it was a safe haven, untouched by war and that was all that mattered.

"Natsu's getting restless," Gray said eventually. So was he, but he'd much prefer to use Natsu as an excuse.

"Soon," was all Erza could say, smiling apologetically. She knew Gray had to flirt extra hard with the customers for tips. She did too, but she minded it much less than she did. People never expected her to say much, in fact they preferred it; her small talk skills left something to be desired. But the tips she got as a cigarette girl were fantastic and Erza had never been particularly shy. She earned more in a night than Gray and Natsu did in a week. Still, having to politely dodge pawing clients without resorting to physical violence was taking something of a toll on her. Not to mention that she missed having access to a shower. She could not wait to move on to a smaller, cheaper town. Who had thought beds and plumbing would be considered luxury items on this mission. "Soon."

Three days later Lucy burst into their camp, eyes shining brightly. "I've got it! I know where the first key is!"

* * *

"This place is said to have been the site of a huge battle over a thousand years ago. Gods, dragons, demons and humans all met at the foot of this great hill. Hundreds of thousands perished. The land developed a reputation for being cursed. Rumour has it, any tribe that chose to settle upon this land was troubled by screams in the night and the sound of footsteps in the dark. Eeyah, I'm even scaring myself!" Lucy shuddered. The team crested the rise of a grassy knoll and came upon the mythical battlefield, an expanse of ochre flatland nestled in between a ring of verdant hillocks. "You can't imagine how hard it was for me to find this information, all I had to go on was two sentences in ancient Mildian!"

"That's so impressive Lucy-san," Wendy said.

"I suppose even you can be useful once in a while," Charle added in her usual haughty tone.

"That's our Lucy," Gray and Erza pronounced simultaneously. "That's my line- oof!" Gray started to say indignantly but he was crushed against Erza's armoured chest.

"How admirable of you to coordinate your thoughts with your nakama, Gray!" Erza declared.

"Hard!" was all Gray had to say in response.

"Enough talking, where is this guy? After being cooped up in a kitchen for three weeks, I'm ready for an intense workout," Natsu said, limbering up and setting his fists aflame.

"Aye Natsu, what's that in the middle of the battleground?" Happy squinted into the distance. It was a scorching day and the air shimmered hazily over the plain. Wendy wiped the sweat from her brow and peered at the horizon, dimly able to make out something protruding from the ground. The group moved swiftly towards their target to investigate. Smack in the middle of the battlefield rose a 20 foot tall statue of a three headed dog, its features still sharp despite the obvious age of the stone. Happy shivered at the sight of it and Charle scoffed at him, reminding him that it was a statue.

Lucy bent to see if there was anything inscribed on its base but no sooner had her hand made contact with the plinth, than the statue came roaring into life. The ground shook as the three headed dog leapt off its platform and came lolloping up to the rest of the group. "Play with me!" it howled in a singsong voice, eliciting sweatdrops from all the humans assembled. The Exceeds on the other hand, were shivering. "Sorry Natsu, you're on your own!" Happy called as he flew swiftly away.

"Come back here you coward!" Natsu shouted after him.

Charle moved with trembling feet to stand an inch before Wendy. "I-I'll protect you W-Wendy," she stammered, before letting out a huge sob of apology and flying away right behind Happy. It looked like even cats with wings could not mix well with dogs.

"Play with me," the giant dog whined again, his tongue lolled out of his mouth and giant globules of saliva splashed at the wizards' feet. Only the middle head of the three was awake. The other two had their eyes closed, seemingly asleep. The dog's 10 foot long tail wagged behind it impatiently, sending gusts of air to and fro.

"We are here for the Key bestowed upon you by the Heavenly Emperor," Erza stated firmly, "Hand it over."

"Play. With. Me," the three-headed beast repeated petulantly. It pawed the ground restlessly, sending slight tremors through it.

"I think it's related to the silver Celestial Spirit Key of Cerberus!" Lucy called to the others rather unhelpfully.

"Wasn't that the name of Cobra's snake?" Natsu wondered aloud.

"No you dummy, that was Cubelious!"

"Doesn't matter, it's time for plan B – beat someone up!" Natsu activated the flames on his fists and got ready to charge, but Gray stopped him. "No, remember what Master said before we left? Quests are never straightforward. Maybe we are meant to do as it asks and play with it?"

"Yes. I shall play with this beast! Requip!" A yellow light glowed around Erza and she reappeared in a skin tight catsuit with pink shoulder pads and shin guards. A giant boomerang materialised in her hand. "Fetch!" she yelled, flinging the weapon with as much force as she could muster.

"What the hell Erza, why do you have a giant boomerang?!" Gray was incredulous.

"I was told it was useful for slaying demons, I thought you would know all about it," Erza replied, mildly surprised. She had only gotten herself a Demon Slayer Armour in the eventuality that Gray and her were paired up in battle.

"Um, Erza-san, did you forget that boomerangs tend to come back!" Wendy wailed, diving out of the way. Natsu and Gray were not quite as lucky and were sent flying when the boomerang caught them around the midsection. Erza followed their trajectory with her eyes and realised too late that the sudden shadow that fell upon her was that of an oversized dog eagerly chasing a boomerang. Moments later she found herself being crushed by 8 tonnes of dog. "Why is its underside so wet after baking in the sun for decades?" Erza wondered idly to the tiny tweeting birds that circled her head before she lost consciousness.

"Erza-san!" the little healer called out, trying desperately to dodge the now antsy Guardian beast so that she could administer first aid to her comrade.

Natsu burned the boomerang to a crisp to prevent him and Gray from being carried away too far, but that made the two of them plummet to the ground, sending up clouds of dust. Their ensuing argument was cut short when they noticed Wendy hauling an unconscious Erza off to the side.

"The key is inside this plinth!" Lucy exclaimed suddenly, running her fingers over the characters she had just translated, "I just need to figure out this riddle to get it open!"

"Hey, no, you sneaky humans! You're supposed to play with me first!" the dog barked angrily. Its other two heads came to life, blinking irritably in the bright midday sun.

"Now just a doggone minute!" the right head roared, realising what was happening.

"Who do you whelps think you are? We're going to get you for this," the left head jeered. The three headed beast hurdled towards Lucy, foaming at the mouth.

"Not on my watch you don't! Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu crashed his knuckles into the Guardian's right head.

"Ice Make: Hammer!" the block of ice slammed onto the Guardian's tail, pinning it down.

"Sky Dragon Wing Attack!" yelled Wendy, getting in on the action and buffeting the dog's remaining two heads with arcs of air.

The Guardian Beast shook its heads, the attacks rolling off it like water off a duck's back. One thump of its tail later and the ice hammer was gone. The three Fairy Tail wizards made a tight ring around Lucy, protecting her while she worked on decoding the riddle on the plinth. Crux hovered in the air next to her, a bubble of snot escaping from his nose as he meditated. However, tightening their formation left them vulnerable to a direct attack. Sensing their folly the three mages simultaneously unleashed their magic before the Guardian Beast could take advantage.

"Fire Dragon Roar!"

"Ice Make: Lance!"

"Sky Dragon Roar!"

The three attacks managed to fling the beast back some distance, giving the group some more room to defend themselves. They spread out to prevent the Beast from taking them all down with a single strike.

"Heaven's Wheel: Pentagram Sword!" Five flashes of steel branded the Guardian Spirit's side as a winged blur of red and silver whizzed past. It seemed Erza had recovered thanks to Wendy's quick thinking. She was back in the game.

"Ile Arms, Ile Armour, Ile Vernier: Enchant!" A ball of green energy enveloped Wendy before shooting off towards her comrades, enhancing their speed, attack and defence. Erza requipped into her Morning Star Armour and sent a Photon Slicer at the Guardian Spirit but it had little impact. The Guardian's muscles rippled across its considerable bulk. It was too big, too strong, too impervious to their attacks.

The four mages steadfastly rained down attacks on the three-headed hound, but it seemed to take almost no damage. The most they were able to do was keep it away from Lucy, buying her time to solve the riddle. Sweat dripped down their foreheads, obscuring their vision. They could not keep this up, the Beast was going to make its way past them to Lucy. They were running out of magic energy and it was barely out of breath. It was time to pull out the big guns. Gray stripped off his shirt and released the energy he kept sealed in this right hand, letting the darkness travel up his arm and halfway across his torso.

"Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Bow!" Gray drew the arrow as far back as possible, the string of the bow stretched to its limit. The icy arrow made contact with the beast seconds before Erza hit it with a Fairy Burst from her Armadura Fairy Armour.

"Fire Dragon King Destruction Fist!" Natsu barrelled into the dog, knocking out one of its three heads.

All four were panting heavily now. Wendy was barely able to keep the magic up on her enchantments, she didn't have any spare for an attack. Healing Erza earlier had used too much magic. The Guardian beast yowled, the two conscious heads angered by their loss of a companion and finally decided to retaliate. It sent massive arcs of pure wind energy towards them with its tail, buffeting the mages and scattering them across the battle field. Wendy was able to inhale one of the attacks and replenish her energy but the beast was sending forth too many too quickly. It was all she could do to defend herself. The others were barely able to stand in the face of such an onslaught.

"Lucy, have you thought of maybe smashing the damn thing and pulling the key out!" Gray yelled, his arms crossed in front of his face in a futile attempt to shield himself.

"I can't, we have to be 'just in our endeavours' remember? That would be cheating!" Lucy cried back, looking worriedly towards a sleeping Crux. She had summoned the spirit hoping he would be able to find an answer to the riddle but the Celestial Spirit had drawn blank so far.

"Damn it! What the hell is this stupid riddle anyway?" Natsu shouted, back-flipping away from yet another wind blade from the Hound.

"Come on Happy, we have to help!" Charle cried out, zooming in towards the group from the sky. The Exceeds could face their fears if it meant protecting their comrades. They only hoped they had not arrived too late.

"Aye Sir!" Happy picked Natsu up in his hands, carrying him out of range of the destructive gale.

Meanwhile, Lucy had summoned Taurus, his hulking form shielding her from most of the wind. However, she could feel his strength ebbing with every blast from the Dog's tail. She was seconds away from abandoning the cause and going to help her friends. "'A girl was walking down the street when she saw a stray dog. She was overcome by a desire to feed it, but alas her hands were empty. However, she fed the dog anyway. How?' Argh! What the hell kind of idiotic riddle is this!" Lucy screamed in frustration.

"With food from her pocket of course!" replied Natsu and Happy in unison.

"With food from her pocket?" Lucy repeated in disbelief. She was ready to let forth a torrent of abuse towards Natsu and Happy for their absurd answer when the plinth under her hand began to glow. The Guardian Spirit ceased its attacks immediately.

"Correct!" the two conscious heads crowed, "the Key is yours!"

"Eh?" Lucy turned blue with shock.

The platform before her opened up and an iridescent key the length of her forearm floated out. She quickly picked it up before the platform deemed that answer unacceptable (How on earth had it been acceptable?) and sucked the key back in. Charle and Happy descended slowly, setting Wendy and Natsu back on the ground. The other battered wizards slowly picked themselves up off the ground. Erza wiped the blood trickling from her split lip and requipped into her usual Heart Kreuz Armour. She was exhausted. Nearby Gray was retrieving his shirt, shaking the dust off it before putting it back on.

Natsu walked up to the Guardian Spirit and grinned sheepishly. "Hey dog man, no hard feelings right?"

"Next time you won't even get the chance to land a single punch," the left head taunted.

"Next time, you're going to play with me!" the middle head chimed in. The right head drooped off to the side, still out cold. The spirit was starting to dissolve into diffuse bubbles of iridescent light. "It's time for us to go."

Natsu and Gray found themselves being forced into a bow by an armoured hand. Erza stood between them and bowed deeply as well. "Thank you," she intoned. Wendy and Lucy found themselves doing the same. When she looked up, Lucy could have sworn she saw the two heads of the dog wink at her before they disappeared completely.

"What did you need to go thank it for?" Natsu asked sharply.

"It went easy on us, did you not notice?"

Natsu pouted and looked away. He had definitely noticed and he hadn't liked it one bit.

'If that was them taking it easy,' Lucy thought, 'what exactly have we signed ourselves up for?''

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly think I warbled on for a thousand words in the beginning just to avoid writing the battle scene. Asteroids are a currency I made up for Giltena. It's weird that people from all three continents speak the same language, lets have some variation in currency at least.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter, Gray and Erza take a bath together!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been pretty boring so far, hopefully the story will start heating up a bit from chapter 4. The adventure portion is mainly a vehicle to deliver some GrayZa feels and to bring them together.

The road to Cassiteria was quiet save for the weary footfalls of a bedraggled quintet of mages, their Exceeds lazily circling overhead. The rays of the late afternoon sun slanted over the group, highlighting the bruises on the three oldest members of the silent party. The travellers were unusually subdued. They barely had the energy to walk, much less engage in conversation. Only Happy and Charle had any energy and a well-timed smack to Happy's head from Charle had stemmed his flow of jibber-jabber. Even Wendy, who had regained some energy by swallowing the Guardian Dog's wind attack was exhausted. She had depleted her reserves while healing her comrades' wounds.

Cassiteria was a sleepy town in southern Giltena, only a few dozen miles from the battleground where the team had retrieved their first key. Quaint red-roofed cottages lined the paths that crisscrossed away from its shop-lined main street. Flowers bloomed in wooden crates that were placed at every doorstep, the blossoms thriving in the heat of summer. While the town could never truly be called bustling, it was certainly lively in the late evenings when its many bars and cafes opened up. But until then the windows around them remained shuttered, the inhabitants partaking in an afternoon siesta to stave off the worst effects of the hot climate. The arrival of a tired crew of wizards in the town went unnoticed simply because there was no one around to do so.

The group split up soon after entering the town, Natsu having smelled meat and having taken off to investigate. Lucy, Wendy, Happy and Charle had gone off to look at the shops on the main street and Gray had decided to take a walk. Erza continued on to the inn where they had taken rooms alone, all she could think of at that moment was a hot bath.

'There's a lot to admire about the Giltenese,' Erza thought as she soaped her weary body, taking care to avoid scrubbing the cuts she had obtained in battle, 'First the strawberries and now their bathrooms! Who would have thought every bathroom would come with a decent-sized  _ofuro_?' She hummed a merry tune as she gently worked shampoo into her scalp, the steam from the ofuro tinging her skin pink. After weeks of washing infrequently at public baths, having access to a private bathroom was sheer bliss.

Her excitement, however, was short-lived. Her thoughts wandered onto more serious topics, as they often did when she found herself alone. Lucy's statement about being just in their endeavours had brought back Vega's words. She had told them to examine their reasons for undertaking the quest carefully, something Erza had avoided doing so far. Why  _had_  she come along? Was it to protect her nakama from harm, something that had been the driving force for most of her life? Or was it something deeper, something she was not sure she wanted to admit even to herself?

"Jellal…" she murmured, her tone troubled.

Shaking her head to clear it of such thoughts, she tipped a bucket of water over her body, rinsing the last of the suds off. She had just finished wrapping a towel around her hair and was about to step into the ofuro when the bathroom door opened and she was confronted with an equally naked Gray.

"Uh," he blushed, turning away. "I didn't realise you were here. I'll come back later."

"No, stay. Come have a soak with me," Erza replied evenly, stepping into the hot water. She remained as unperturbed by social mores as ever.

"N-no. It's OK." Gray wondered if Erza would ever realise that she couldn't just casually invite young men to take baths with her. This was beyond mortifying.

"Why not? It isn't anything we haven't done before."

"We were kids back then! It's different now."

"Oh? I thought you'd seen Lucy and I naked so many times that the novelty had worn off." She was referring to the time the entire group had bathed together at Warrod's hot spring.

"It's not that. It's…" he trailed off, turning around. Erza cocked her head curiously at him. Steam rose mistily around her, curling into tendrils as it wafted towards the ceiling. Gray looked away from her. "Tch, I don't think Jellal would like it too much if we took a bath together."

When no reply came he risked a peek at her, only to find that she was staring into the water pensively, a downcast expression on her face. He sighed, resigned. He reached for a bucket and took a quick rinse before getting into the ofuro with her. She didn't look up even when he got in next to her. The bath was smaller than it looked and the motion of Gray's body sent little swells of water rippling across the tub. He found the silence unbearably awkward. Had he touched a nerve with what he had said? Though it was only minutes, to him it felt like hours had passed before Erza finally spoke. "Would he?" she asked softly, "Jellal. Not like it. Nearly a year has passed since he was pardoned and I have yet to receive word from him."

Gray did not know what to say, so he chose to say nothing. He hoped his silence would encourage her to talk if she wanted to. Although, when the thought about it, he might almost prefer the awkward silence to a discussion about her feelings. Almost. Gray wasn't very good at the touchy-feely stuff. Bar Lucy, none of them were.

"I waited and waited and… just how long am I meant to wait?" Erza muttered inaudibly.

"Huh?" Gray asked, not sure if he had been meant to hear that.

"It's nothing," Erza replied before turning to him with a fake smile plastered on her face. "Sorry, I'm ruining your bath."

"I'm the one who should apologise, it looks like I ruined yours." Why did he have to go and bring up Jellal?

"Well, it's not over yet. Come on, I'll wash your back for you."

Gray opened his mouth to protest but then thought the better of it. "Eh OK," he replied red-faced. He sat silently and reluctantly submitted to her ministrations, trying very hard to think of anything but Erza's naked body behind him. For all his bravado and nonchalance in Warrod's hot spring, Erza was extremely attractive and he was only human. His traitorous memory flashed back to the rivulets of water running down her smooth skin as she rose from the tub before him. His eyes had followed their path down the ridges of her spine to the curve of her derriere. Blood rushed to his face at the image and he had to shut his eyes in an attempt to rid himself of it. Seconds later, he almost leapt off his stool when the rough texture of the sponge was replaced by Erza's gentle touch. She idly traced the newest scar on his back and Gray tried his hardest not to fidget.

"Juvia," Erza spoke. Gray stiffened when he heard that name. "This scar, it's from then isn't it?"

Gray did not answer and Erza carried on with her musing, "I suppose Juvia is better at waiting than I am." She sounded almost bitter. The silence stretched once more between them. Gray could hear the bubbles of the foam on the bathroom floor bursting and subsiding. Now she was the one who had touched a nerve.

Unwilling to talk about Juvia and unable to bear the silence any longer. Gray turned and took the sponge from her hand. "Come on, turn around, I'll do yours," he said.

Her alabaster skin was flushed from the heat of the bath and her muscles looked uncomfortably taut. Gray observed the tension in her back. It was almost as if she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. In a way, she did.

"Does he know?" Gray asked quietly, lathering up her soft skin.

"Hmm?"

"Does he know how you feel?"

Erza looked at the ground, suddenly flustered. "We have an understanding. Or I thought we did."

"No, not that." His voice came out sharper than he had intended. He forced himself to continue in a milder tone, "Does he know how you feel about waiting for him?"

Erza did not respond. She was lost in thought again. The silence lay heavy between them once more, its weight amplified by the stultifying humidity of the room. Gray broke the quiet as he always did, saying eventually, "Tsk, your shoulders are in absolute knots. You should try to stress less. The world won't collapse without you, you know?" He was lying. She knew it. She had saved their asses in battle countless times and then they had gone on to save the world. They were a team, a team that would not function without any one of them present. Or rather, it would not want to. They would not want to. That was the real reason she had come on the quest. Even if a voice in the back of her mind said she had come on the quest to show Jellal that she was done waiting for him, she knew better now. She was grateful to Gray for showing her that.

"Make sure you wash thoroughly before getting back in the ofuro," was all she replied. Rinsing off the soap, she slipped back into the bath with a smile on her face. Gray was annoyed by her high-handedness but did as she said. He kept his back to her as he scrubbed, finding himself overcome by an uncharacteristic sense of modesty. He need not have bothered, her eyes were closed anyway.

She was roused from her reflection when she heard Gray let out a little noise of surprise. "Isn't the water too cold for you?" he asked, sinking into the water beside her.

"I hadn't noticed," she replied. She had been too deep in thought. The water had gone cold ages ago. "You're right."

She moved to the side and lifted a wooden hatch by the bath to check something. "The heating lacrima is broken," she reported back with a sigh. She made to stand from the bath when Gray reached out and stayed her with his hand.

"Oi Natsu!" he called. He had heard someone noisily enter their hotel room some minutes ago.

"What are you doing? You hate warm water."

"So? You don't." Erza had looked so melancholy that he could suffer through a boiling bath if it made her happy. Wasn't that why he had gotten into the ofuro in the first place?

Erza was surprised by his answer but accepted it with a smile. The screen door to the bathroom slid open and Natsu stepped in. "What's this? You two are taking a bath without me?"

"Come on in," Erza invited, "there's plenty of room." There really wasn't.

"The heating lacrima's gone out. We need you to get the water nice and hot," Gray said.

Natsu rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Leave it to me! Fire Dragon Water Heater!"

The temperature of the water rose rapidly, hissing and bubbling. Gray glanced to his left to see Erza had gone as red as her hair. "You overdid it again, flame brain!"

"If you can't take the heat, then get out of the bathroom, popsicle!"

"Look at Erza, she looks like a bottle of ketchup!"

"What's wrong with that, she always looks like a bottle of ketchup! Flaming hot, bad-tempered ketchup!"

"No, she looks extra ketchup-ey now! Way more bad-tempered than usual"

Their juvenile bickering was interrupted by a threatening presence looming over them. Erza's face had gone dark, the aura around her crackling with ominous rage. "What was that, boys?" she queried gruffly.

"No-Nothing Erza!" the boys chorused.

A loud 'thwack' echoed across the bathroom and both boys ended up with bumps sprouting from their heads. When Natsu tried to dip his toe in the water, he got an extra whack. "Go wash up before you get in here!" Erza ordered, adding, "Gray, go wash his back."

"But I don't wan-" he had begun protesting but then hastily backtracked after receiving a particularly bone-chilling glare from Erza. "Yes ma'am, right away," he said meekly, exiting the tub.

"I had better not hear any raised voices!" she called after them.

* * *

An hour later Lucy and the others returned to find an annoyed Natsu, an embarrassed Gray and a serene Erza crammed into a too-small bath. Lucy, Charle and Wendy turned bright red and Charle tried in vain to cover Wendy's eyes as she pushed her out of the bathroom. "WHAT THE HELL KIND OF RELATIONSHIP DO YOU GUYS HAVE?" Lucy pointed at them, her hand shaking wildly. Happy drifted by with a towel on his head, ready to join in. "Not you too, Happy!"

Erza grabbed both Natsu and Gray around the neck and hugged them to her chest. "You should join us Lucy! There is nothing as relaxing as having a hot soak with your comrades. Isn't that right, boys?"

Both Natsu and Gray were looking in opposite directions, their faces red and annoyed, the bumps on their head sporting additional smaller bumps one on top of each other. Lucy sweatdropped. "Um, I don't think they agree with you, Erza," she mumbled softly, before fleeing from the bathroom, scarred for life.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group travels to a forest in eastern Giltena to confront the second Guardian Sprit. Hijnks occur but the fun comes to an end when someone is injured.

A loud crash echoed around the town square, a chair flying out of a bar and breaking into pieces when it struck the cobblestones. Lucy and Wendy exchanged embarrassed looks, wondering which of their comrades was responsible for the altercation. "A thousand Asteroid it's Natsu." Charle sniffed the air snootily. She was presently in human form, having decided that one flying cat was suspicious enough. Happy took off towards the brawl with a cry of 'Natsuuu!'

Unaware that Natsu was presently employed as a human water heater, the girls followed Happy leisurely. They entered the tavern to find Happy trapped in the fist of a man so burly, he would have put Elfman to shame. "Oh no no, you're not having this one too! This is my catch!"

His opponent, a whippet thin man with foot-long nails, sneered. "Woah man! That quarry was rightfully mine and you well know it! You tried to usurp my hunt, just like you're trying to usurp this one. I saw the blue beast first."

Crack! A pewter tankard flew past Lucy and smashed on the street next to the aforementioned chair.

"Charle! Help!" Happy wailed, struggling to break loose. The two men were taken aback when their prey spoke, enough so that the first man loosened his grip and Happy wriggled free. He sped behind Lucy and hid, only peeping out to send reproachful glances at the two men.

"Woah, that thing is sentient? What are you trying to do Hugo, you know that's against our code!" The skinny man was holding his arms up, as if to indicate that he had nothing to do with the situation.

"Ha ha ha, what are you talking about Ludovic, you saw the Bird-Cat first, you said so yourself. It's your kill!"

"That's not a Bird-Cat, that's an Exceed!" Charle declared, giving the men her fiercest stare. They turned to her, puzzled.

Wendy observed that both men had their upper arms tattooed with a woman wielding a bow and arrow. "I think they are in some sort of hunter's guild," she whispered to her companions. Meanwhile the hunters had encircled Charle, examining her carefully from all angles.

"Say Ludo, why do you think this cute little girl has cat ears?" the muscular one asked.

"Woah, they're adorable! You think it's the latest style? Maybe I should buy some for my little girl." The skinny one hovered over Charle's head, tapping her ears with one of his long nails. Charle transformed back into her cat form with a whoosh, causing both men to fall back and let out yelps of surprise.

"Yo Ludo! That girl is a cat!"

"Woah Hugo, the girl is a cat!"

"Come on, let's go, we don't have time for this," Charle said, turning her nose up disdainfully at the two buffoons on the floor. She had just taken a step towards the door when she stumbled, her eyes wide and unseeing. Images of a forest flashed before her eyes. A giant pig towering over their group. Shocked faces as a bright light flared across the clearing. Then, a body on the ground, blood pooled around its boots. She put a hand up to her head, trying desperately to grasp the visions and see more before they slipped away.

"Charle! Are you OK?" Wendy was on her knees before the Exceed. The distraction was enough, the future slithered out of Charle's grip and was gone.

"Wendy," Charle said desperately, "I had a premonition. I saw a forest. And a pig. It was huge, bigger than any pig I've ever seen!"

The hunters overheard her statement. "A huge pig you say?"

"Woah! That sounds like the Great Dread of the Conturbatus Forest!"

Recollecting that one of the twelve Guardian Spirits was a pig, Lucy affixed the boys with her sultriest expression. "Alright boys," she said, one hand on her hip and another behind her head. "Why don't you buy me a drink? Then you can tell me all about this Great Dread."

* * *

Erza awoke with a start, an unfamiliar weight across her midsection. The wizards had taken a single room in Cassiteria in order to save money and they were currently sleeping family style, squashed together on a queen-sized bed. Wendy had been grateful for her small frame for the first time in her life when she realised she was the only one who could comfortably fit on the tiny couch in the room. She lay there now with Charle, sleeping peacefully. It took Erza a moment to assess her surroundings and realise there was no threat, just a familiar muscular arm across her waist.

She looked to her left and saw a pair of indigo eyes watching her. Gray quirked an eyebrow as if to say, 'Can't sleep?'

She looked pointedly at the arm athwart her waist in response.

Gray followed her gaze and clocked Natsu reaching over Erza to hold Lucy's hand in his sleep. A wicked grin appeared on his face and he opened his mouth to tease his comrade when he was pinned down by the glower in Erza's eyes. 'Don't you dare,' it seemed to say.

He pouted at her, somewhat emboldened by the knowledge that she would not risk leaning over a sleeping Natsu to punch him. He learned too late that Erza's eyes were as effective a weapon as her fists. He gave her a sheepish look in lieu of an apology, not wanting to disturb the stillness of the night with his words.

Her expression softened. Sometimes she hated how fearful of her her comrades were. Sometimes. Most of the time she really enjoyed it. It meant she got her way far more often than anyone else. She looked over at Gray, his silhouette outlined by the moonlight seeping in through the window, and felt an inexplicable fondness for him. They had known each other the longest out of all the members of the group. Maybe that was why they worked so well together.

It was her turn to quirk an eyebrow at him. Why was he still awake? He understood her unspoken question and nodded towards his seldom clothed torso. Erza stifled a laugh. Of course Gray would not be able to sleep in pyjamas. He had not even owned any before Lucy had put her foot down. No way was she sleeping in the same bed, albeit with two people betwixt them, as a naked man. No way. She still hoped to be married someday. Gray had found a single store open at that late hour and bought the first pair of pyjamas he found. That was how he came to be clad in furry pink broadcloth with a motif of strawberries running over his body.

Gray grinned back at Erza. It was good to see her smile after her forlornness earlier that evening. They stayed like that, carrying on a wordless conversation until the two of them drifted to sleep.

* * *

Sunlight danced on the blades of grass in the clearing making shimmering diamonds of dew condense onto the green. The crisp morning air was abuzz with the sounds of life; birds called to each other from the trees and tiny animals scampered about foraging for food. A spotted deer grazed calmly by the edge of the woods, enjoying the idyll. Suddenly, its ears perked up and it fled swiftly away. The small animals followed suit, taking refuge in their burrows or in the hollows of the trees. The birds took flight as well, their wings beating a cacophony as they escaped mere seconds before an angry ball of fire and ice rolled into the dell.

"Take that, Freezer Breath! Fire Dragon Iron First!"

"Oh yeah? Bring it on. Ice Make: Boxing Glove!" Gray sheathed his fist with ice and met Natsu's punch with his own.

Lucy and Wendy watched the two wizards destroy most of the glade and get started on the surrounding forest. "Um Lucy-san, shouldn't we stop them?" Wendy asked nervously. Lucy turned to glance back towards the forest. The young men had started arguing about fifteen minutes ago, Lucy had no idea over what. It was probably something inconsequential. It almost always was. In the background Gray yelled, "Ice cream is superior to hot pot in every way!" Yup. It was definitely inconsequential. She hoped Erza would hurry up and catch up to them, there wouldn't be much forest left to explore at the rate Natsu and Gray were going.

They had left Erza behind about two miles ago, when her gigantic cart of luggage proved to be too wide for the narrow forest paths. She had conscripted Happy and Charle into helping her, insisting that the others go ahead and that she would catch up shortly. That had been over an hour ago.

Whumph! Another tree cracked in half when Gray swerved to dodge Natsu's roundhouse kick and used the opening to deliver a punch to his abdomen, launching Natsu away. His expression of smug satisfaction turned to one of alarm as Natsu rose from the carcass of the fallen tree and charged into him with superhuman speed, sending Gray flying clear across the clearing. Gray dusted himself off and was back at Natsu in a flash.

Lucy turned back to watch the two clowns battle it out. 'Ten more minutes, then I'll step in,' she lied to herself. There was no way in hell she was approaching those two in the middle of a brawl. She valued the integrity of her body too much for that.

Natsu and Gray were taking aim to launch flying kicks at each other when an inquisitive rabbit poked its head out of the ground, slap-bang in the center of the glade. Both the mages swerved at the last minute to avoid it. Lacking full control over their direction of motion, they found themselves being propelled along the same trajectory.

"Look out Lucy-san!"

Lucy looked up just in time to see two feet flying right towards her face. She ducked an instant before they made contact, the two men missing her head by a hair's breadth. She whipped her head around to discover the person who had just jogged up the forest path behind her had not been quite so lucky.

Too late, Gray and Natsu realised that the flight path they were on was taking them directly at the person they feared the most. A person who was soon to have footprints on her face that were as red as her hair.

* * *

Erza was annoyed. Her luggage cart was too big to comfortably manoeuvre the tortuous paths of these accursed woods. No wonder it was called the Conturbatus Forest, it was certainly causing her enough trouble. When a wheel of the dray had gotten caught in protruding root for the fourth time that day, her patience wore out. She had instructed her comrades to go on without her, corralling the Exceeds into her service. She had a devious plan to get her luggage moving and it did not bear witnessing. Not by her comrades at least. The Exceeds were much easier to bully. After all, she frequently bullied Lily into doing her bidding and he was considerably tougher than these two. "Yosh!" she clapped her hands together. Time to set her plan in motion.

Thirty minutes later she was so frustrated that it felt like the red stressmark at the side of her head was going to permanently tattoo itself onto her skin. Happy and Charle lay exhausted on the ground, their breathing laboured. The harnesses around their bodies stretched to the limit with every exaggerated puff of air they exhaled. "Maybe if I rearrange the load bearing cables," she pondered aloud, stroking her chin.

"H-hey! Wait a minute!" Charle was on her feet, terror evident in her expression.

"Enough Erza!" Happy moved to stand protectively in front of Charle, his arms akimbo. "We're not strong enough to lift it so please stop!" He knew he would regret saying that. He did not need Charle's foresight to know that intense physical training was in his future. He would probably end up looking like Lily. Happy shuddered at the thought.

Erza had been trying to arrange her luggage cart in such a way that Happy and Charle would be able to fly it out of the forest, directly to the campsite the others had been sent ahead to find. Alas, Happy was right. She would have to find another solution.

"Just stuff it in your pocket dimension."

Erza shot Charle a look. Would she be lugging twenty bags across the continent if it was as easy as all that? Her pocket dimension had limited space and the more things that were in it, the more magic energy Erza expended. 'Although,' she said slowly to herself, 'maybe a compromise can be worked out.'

Twenty minutes later, Erza was jogging up the path to catch up to the others, the way forward evident by the carnage Natsu and Gray had left in their wake. Sweat dripped down her face. A face that had taken on a bilious green tinge. A face that was soon the recipient of one sandaled foot and one booted foot that came flying out of nowhere.

Most people react poorly to being kicked in the face. And Erza was not most people. One anticipated her reaction to be hyperbolic. However, no one was quite expecting an assortment of weapons, armour and other paraphernalia to spew forth from her body the moment Natsu and Gray made contact with her face. Erza had overstuffed her pocket dimension and it was taking its revenge by expelling every single item she had ever placed into it. Lucy and Wendy had to duck and dodge to avoid the articles that were currently raining down upon the clearing. They exchanged a relieved look when the last of it, a wooden sword fit for a toddler, stabbed into the ground beside them.

Unfortunately, their relief was short lived as two cats appeared on the horizon, a large dray swinging below them. The conveyance pitched dangerously to one side, the bags upon it close to sliding off the forest below. "Watch out!" they shouted in unison. But by the time the words distinguished themselves in the ears of their listeners it was too late. The Exceeds came crashing down, the bags thumping onto the wizards below. Natsu let out a faint 'oof' as the wind was knocked out of him yet again. Lucy tried to run away but she did not get very far before the wooden trolley clattered onto her. A plaintive 'why me?' was dimly audible from the dirt under the cart. In the end, only Wendy was left standing. A drop of sweat hovered by her temple as she looked at the destruction surrounding her. Finally, she ventured, "Um, let's make camp here, shall we?"

* * *

The unforgiving Giltenese sun was directly overhead when they stumbled upon the first tracks. Or to be more accurate, they realised that the uneven ground they had been treading on consisted of large cloven hoof prints, the spoors so wide and deep that it was impossible to discern them from natural variations on the landscape until they got to higher ground. Their entire guild hall would have fit into a single hoof mark, swimming pool and all. "How big is this thing?" Lucy wondered, her eyes wide with awe.

"Natsu, do you have a scent?"

Natsu copped a squat and touched his nose to the dirt before answering Gray's question. "It's faint, but I can still follow it." When he received a nod from the members of his team he jumped up, gung-ho. "Let's go get that key! I'm fired up!"

They tracked the Guardian Spirit for hours, covering miles and miles of forest. The group carried on without pause until they came to a deep ravine. A multitude of colours dotted the ravine floor, but they did not pause to inspect it, their quarry did not lay there. An animal that could leave such giant prints could easily step over the ravine, as though it were nothing more than a crack in the dirt.

The sun was now tilting towards the western horizon and Happy thanked his stars that the sun set late in Giltena. He would not show it to the others, especially not Charle, but he was a bit apprehensive about facing down such an enormous creature in the dark. He carried Natsu across the gorge, Charle and Wendy visible in the periphery. Erza requipped into her Black Wing Armour and insisted on carrying Gray and Lucy across herself; eager to redeem herself for her part in the morning's escapade. "We're here," Natsu said to the others, walking to the edge of the treeline. The ground dipped precipitously, falling away several hundred feet towards a mountain of stone. A cave. The woodland around the cave shrank away, as though afraid of what resided there. Even the grass did not dare to grow before its yawning maw.

Thunder rolled ominously in the distance. Wendy looked up at the clear sky, puzzled. "It's snoring," Erza answered her unspoken question.

Something glinted by the mouth of the cave. There, leaning against the wall with all the insouciance of a juvenile delinquent, was the second key. The group immediately reorganised itself into a tight circle.

"Let's steal it!" Happy had a sly look on his face.

"No Happy-san, what about the 'be just' clause?"

"The key IS just standing there, it's not like there's a riddle to solve." Lucy was keen to avoid fighting anything that gargantuan. "In fact, it could be argued that the Guardian Spirit WANTS us to take it."

"She has a point, let's just take it and get away from this monster as fast as we can." This was the clearing from her vision. Charle was sure of it. There had to be a way to prevent the rest of it from coming true.

"Pfft, we can take him. Isn't that right flame-brain?"

"Yes Natsu, what do you think?" Erza asked the vacant space where Natsu once stood. "Natsu?" she repeated, blinking. The entire group turned to the spot where Natsu was supposed to be but all they could see were red dashes emanating from an empty Natsu-shaped silhouette.

"Yo Mister! Wake up!" Natsu was at the entrance of the cave, waving his arms above his head. "Hey, Piggy-chan! We're here for the key!"

The deafening sounds of a behemoth stirring rumbled from deep within the vast cavern. One bleary red eye opened in the darkness and peered at the chink of daylight filtering into its quarters, wondering who had the gall to so rudely interrupt its sleep. It poked its massive head out of its nest and inspected the pink haired human smiling cheerily at it.

The others watched with trepidation as a giant snout emerged from the dark and sniffed Natsu. Suddenly, with a speed that defied its bulk, it shot towards Natsu and tossed him up into the air with a mere flick.

"Natsu!" Happy cried. Lucy found herself reaching for her keys.

Natsu spun through the air, utterly bemused. His body turned one cartwheel in the air. Two. Three. Before plopping down with a dull thud on the Guardian Spirit's nose. "You're here!" it squealed. It shifted its immense bulk and trotted leisurely out of the cave. "I've been waiting ages! It's been quite dull around these parts. What took you so long? Don't tell me you went and saw that idiot Dog before me? I try so hard to make a ruckus and keep the gossip up about this place but people always go see the Dog first. I've tried negotiating with the Heavenly Emperor's Daughter but she absolutely refuses give out my location as a clue. It's really quite annoying." It paused and surveyed the rest of the astounded group. "Oh my, there are so many of you! And all so young and good-looking! All I got last time was a grizzled old lech. He wouldn't spend any time with me. Too eager to get back to the broth-," it paused, eyed little Wendy apprehensively and changed its mind about what it was going to say, "the broth erm, restaurant in the next village. Yes, it serves excellent soup. Well, at least I got a small furlough after that, so I can't complain too much.

"Right, I suppose introductions are in order! Then I can give you the Task." It bent its head and allowed Natsu to hop off before continuing, "Let's start with you little man, why what lovely hair you have. Excellent colour even if I do say so myself." It wiggled its enormous pink ears and preened.

The others, dumbfounded, just stared at the two, heads jerking from Natsu to the Pig as Natsu made the introductions. It was only when the Guardian pointed out that it was rude to stare that Erza remembered herself.

"Please excuse our poor manners," she said, executing a brief bow. "What is this Task you speak of?"

The Guardian Pig let out an exasperated sigh. "Don't tell me she failed to explain the Tasks of the Quest?"

Lucy shook her head. "No."

"Really," the Guardian said peevishly, "Whatever will we do with that girl? I suppose she spent too much time with her boyfriend and was horribly late to meet you?" He continued without waiting for an answer. "To obtain the Keys from the Guardian Spirits you are meant to complete a Task. The Task varies depending on the Spirit. Sometimes it's a riddle, sometimes a battle, sometimes both if your riddle isn't particularly good. It can be anything really as long as it is reasonably difficult to accomplish. Can't have too many of you Questers obtaining the Great Gift, you see?"

Natsu cracked his knuckles. "So Piggy-chan," he cut to the chase, "what task have you got planned for us?"

* * *

The task was daunting. The colossal size of the Guardian Spirit was daunting. But nothing was more daunting than the aura emanating from one Erza Scarlet. Coils of red magical energy looped outwards from her unwavering form. She had embarrassed herself that morning. She had put her teammates in peril. It was time now to restore her honour! She would accomplish this task flawlessly. "Requip!" Her battle cry echoed across the field. Blades flashed in a frenzy of motion. Her movements were so fast that they were impossible to follow. She leapt across the field, wreaking havoc and landed on one foot, her knee bent, her other leg extended perfectly behind her. Her enemies fell in her wake, rent asunder by the force of her blades.

"Right!" she turned to Wendy and Lucy, "Sous-chefs! Are you ready?"

Lucy and Wendy smartly saluted. The tall white hats on their heads mirroring the one on Erza's. The frilly white aprons that encircled their waists a reflection of their fearless leader's. "Yes Chef!" they chorused.

Erza nodded assuredly. Currently garbed in her Chef Armour, she had no doubt that she could complete the task of preparing a feast for the Guardian Spirit. "Recipe?" she had scoffed when the Spirit offered her some sheaves of paper, "cooking comes from the heart! The recipe is brought forth from your very soul! Your essence, your chi, your lifeblood must manifest itself in your cooking!"

The three girls were currently at the bottom of the ravine they had crossed earlier. The variegated blobs they had seen as they flew overhead earlier had been the Guardian Pig's personal farm. The corn rose high in the fields, the vegetables the size of vehicles and the fruit as lush and ripe as anything they had ever seen. There were no strawberries though, much to Erza's chagrin.

"Open. Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"

"Yes Princess, is it time for punishment?" Virgo too was wearing a chef's hat, choosing to emulate Erza's style by donning a one-piece swimsuit under it.

Lucy sweatdropped. "Why are you wearing a swimsuit?"

Virgo gestured towards Erza. "I thought it would suit the situation and provide some much needed fan service. Oh dear, did I make an error? I'm going to get punished for sure!" Lucy ignored her masochistic spirit and put on her Aquarius Star Dress. Meanwhile, Erza had walked up to Virgo and was earnestly complimenting her on her excellent choice of outfit.

"Alright Virgo, I'm going to need you to dig a hole about ten feet wide, all the way up to the Guardian Pig's cave!"

"Roger that, Princess!"

Erza and Lucy bounded up the tunnel behind Virgo. "You ready?" Lucy nodded to Gray when she reached the top.

"I was born ready," Gray replied.

"Alright Wendy! Give it your best shot!" Lucy called down the tunnel, before placing her foot in the puddle of water she had made with her canteen earlier.

A dim cry of "Sky Dragon Roar!" echoed from the tunnel, followed by a barrage of over-sized fruits and vegetables.

"Ice Make: Colander!"

"Aqua Metria!"

"Heaven's Wheel: Trinity Sword!"

The vegetables landed neatly in Gray's ice basket, before being washed by a torrent of water from Lucy. Erza's attack diced them into fine cubes, ready for cooking.

She walked up to the several cauldrons that had been laid out, pleased to see that Natsu had stoked their fires before he had left for the river with Happy and Charle. Natsu's assignment was to catch a few of the mammoth trout that proliferated in the river to the north. Of course, Happy had taken off faster than one could say 'Fish!'

Charle had been allotted the unwelcome job of babysitting the two and ensuring they stayed on task. A job she acquitted well, seeing as they returned minutes after the vegetables had been deposited in the cauldrons, the mammoth trout piled high on Natsu's shoulder. Happy lugged a twenty-foot trout all by himself, salivating at the thought of his dinner.

They spent an enjoyable afternoon together. Lucy, Wendy and Charle sipped tea with the Guardian Pig while Happy sat off to the side, meticulously devouring his gigantic fish. Erza flitted about the cook area, humming merrily as she haphazardly added ingredients to the pots. Natsu and Gray surreptitiously shadowed her movements. A stack of recipes piled high in Gray's hand. Natsu tasted and adjusted the food, cursing Igneel for his enhanced senses, the flavour of Erza's 'cooking' rendered ghastlier by dint of them. "Why can't you do this job?" he grumbled.

"You're the one who worked as a fry-cook, remember?" That and Gray was not particularly keen on sampling the toxic sludge that was bubbling away in the cauldrons. Natsu opened his mouth to deliver an unwitty retort that would have invariably started a fight when a familiar voice asked, "What are you two upto?"

"N-nothing Erza!" they said in unison, their arms around each other. Gray tried desperately to hide the recipes behind his back and Natsu tried to distract Erza from the canisters of spices that were currently soaring into the distance.

"The beautiful bond of brotherhood shines between you despite the fight you had this morning. I am moved." She clasped them to her bosom.

"Hard-huh? Squishy!" Erza was not garbed in her usual armour and there was a lot more give to her chest than usual.

A stress mark appeared on Erza's temple. "True, I don't lose anything by having them squashed, but that doesn't mean you're allowed to feel me up!" Both boys were sent flying, bumps sprouting from their heads.

Day was edging towards evening when they finally finished eating. Silver glinted in Lucy's hand and soon the dulcet tones of Lyra's harp filtered through the clearing. The group lounged around, the atmosphere relaxed and conducive to loquaciousness. The Guardian Pig snuffled in a satisfied manner, its belly full and its tongue considerably loosened. "What lovely kids you are," it murmured equably, "worthy of the Great Gift I think. Trustworthy. Decent. Good. Why, I think you might be the ones who will truly understand the Quest."

"What do you mean?" Gray questioned. Beside him, Natsu stoked the bonfire till it was burning brightly, staving off the chill of twilight.

"Hmm? Nothing. It would be nice to have a good long sleep." The Guardian Pig looked into the fire wistfully. The longing in its voice spoke of something deeper than a mere nap.

Night was falling around them, the sky tinted lavender as the last rays of the sun extended from the horizon. The group was bathed golden in its dying light. Feeling fuzzy. Feeling content.

The peace of dusk was shattered by a loud bang. An arc of light cannoned across the clearing, striking the Guardian Spirit behind the ear, leaving its flesh charred and smoking. It howled and turned away. Tears streamed from its eyes and the smoke from its wound obscured the surroundings.

"Up there! In the trees!" Lucy pointed. But the setting sun blinded them, their assailant cleverly using it to disguise themselves.

"I trusted you!" the Guardian Spirit keened, misunderstanding the happenings around it. Still blinded by the smoke and pain, it lurched around the clearing recklessly. Bang! Another shot rang across the forest, this time nailing the Guardian Spirit in its side.

Natsu growled, signalling to Happy to fly him towards the assailant but another bang resounded through the woods before they could take off.

"Requip!" Erza donned her Adamantine Armour and dove towards the light, hoping to absorb it and spare the Guardian. Erza was fast. The blast was a smidge faster.

The world seemed to slow down for Lucy. All she could see were snapshots of what happened next. Crystal clear images that would be burned into her brain for eternity. Erza, leaping before the Guardian Spirit. Erza, realising too late the speed of the oncoming attack. Erza, raising her shield. Too slow. Too slow. The blow glancing off the edge of the shield, deflecting, twisting, reaching up into Erza's face. Her eye. Blood. Just so much blood. A golden burst of light as her armour disappeared, leaving her clothed in her white blouse and dark skirt. The blood blooming like a scarlet rose upon her chest. Lucy opened her mouth to scream.

"Erza!" The cry sprang not from her lips, the voice deeper, manlier. Gray.

The attacks were coming thick and fast. "Bastard!" Natsu cried, taking off towards the unknown attacker, Happy weaving in and out of the oncoming missiles.

"Ice Make: Shield!" Gray was before them, protecting them. "WENDY HELP!" His eyes were wild, beseeching Charle. "Get her away from here. Help her. Retreat. Retreat!"

But Charle could not move. She just stood there seeing another one of her visions come true. The angered Guardian Spirit towering over them. The light flaring across the clearing. Wendy and Lucy's stricken faces. Erza, on the ground, blood pooling around her boots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Exposition, exposition everywhere. Sigh.


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erza's life is left hanging in the balance after an unknown attacker lays siege on the group. Team Natsu faces down a new threat. A showdown is on the books!

The world around Charle was in chaos. She was dimly aware of people shouting at her but she was paralysed. Even her thoughts were stuck. They had skidded into a pothole and her mind had juddered to a halt. She could have prevented this. She  _should_  have prevented this. What was the point of being able to see the future if you could not stop your friends from being hurt? "Charle." An arm was on her shoulder. Wendy's eyes were filled with tears. "Charle, I need you focus OK? We have to get out of here."

Charle watched in awe as Wendy took charge, the medic in her coming to the forefront. She squatted by Erza's body and felt for a pulse before casting some preliminary enchantments, all the while dictating orders to those around her. "I can't help her here," she said in an unfaltering voice, "Gray-san, I need you to carry Erza-san back to camp, Lucy-san can't do it. Lucy-san, cover us. We will split the focus of their attack by choosing different routes. Charle, fly me out!"

Before anyone could think to protest her plan, Wendy was on her feet and chanting, "O swift wind that dashes through the heavens… Ile Vernier!" Green light enveloped Gray's feet. "Go!"

He did not need telling twice. "Don't come back without that key!" he said to Lucy. Erza would not want them to abandon their mission. The key was the reason they had come to this godforsaken place. The reason Erza was… Lucy nodded in understanding and gave him a thumbs up in reply. "Open the Gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!"

Gray sped away with Erza cradled to his chest. Behind him he could hear a velvety male voice saying 'We are!' as the Scorpion Spirit made his appearance. He paused to create a bridge of ice over the ravine that sheltered the Guardian Pig's farm and then took off at full speed. He spared a glance at Erza's face as he sprinted across. Blood crusted over her swollen right eye, her forehead was beaded with sweat and her lips were bloodless and pale. 'Hang in there Erza,' he silently entreated, 'We're going to help you, so hang in there!'

* * *

"Sand Wall!" Scorpio raised a wall of sand to protect Lucy and the Guardian Spirit from the magic blasts that were still raining down. Behind him Lucy had changed into her Scorpio Star Dress and was summoning another spirit to reign in the rampaging Guardian.

"Open the Gate of the Ram! Aries!"

"I'm sorry!" The pink haired lamb spirit burst into view. "Wool bomb!" she sent a wave of fluffy pink wool at the Guardian Spirit to try to calm and relax him. Lucy used her enhanced speed to run up the Guardian's body onto his nose. "Hey you! Piggy-chan!" she yelled. Aries's wool had helped rein in the Spirit, but it was still writhing in agony. Lucy grabbed onto the tufts of hair that sprouted on its snout to prevent from being thrown off.

"Ouch!" the Guardian Pig cried, trying even harder to shake her off.

"Stop! STOP!" Lucy was holding on for dear life.

The Pig continued to thrash, the pain in its body too great for it to listen to reason. It careened into the cliffside, sending rocks tumbling down towards Lucy. The rocks broke across her back. She screamed in agony. Aries was too far away to help her bearer and Scorpio was using all his strength to block the barrage of magic blasts that were still coming.

The Pig opened its mouth and let out a roar that sent everything in its path reeling. "Our sand can't hold on!" Scorpio said before he vanished. "I'm sorry!" Aries exclaimed as she too faded from view. Lucy's magic was drained. She clung to the Spirit's fur with all the strength she had left. They were vulnerable to attack from the intruders again and the shots pelted down. It was only sheer luck that was protecting her from being hit. She did not know how long she would last. She narrowed her eyes and sent up a prayer, speaking the name of the one person that could save her from this predicament.

"Natsu."

* * *

Wendy landed surefootedly. She barely paused before she set about getting things ready for Erza's arrival. "Charle, get some water." She tossed her companion some canteens.

"On it!" Charle replied, zooming away with the bottles. Wendy was already building a fire. Charle was amazed by how confident Wendy was. She had taken charge of the situation effortlessly. It was such a contrast to her usual demeanour. She could not help but feel a whisper of pride for her best friend. Charle probably would have still been standing helplessly, unable to move, if it had not been for her. Her mouth set into a determined line. Her powers may have failed her once, but they would not fail her again. She would look into the future; find a reality in which Erza survived this. She could still help. She would fix this.

* * *

Natsu was frustrated. He and Happy had not even been able to get close to their assailant. "Stop hiding behind your guns and fight me you coward!" he shouted.

"Natsu, I can't keep this up!" Happy panted. Natsu glanced at his comrade concernedly. An idea sprang into his head. "Alright Happy, fly me up! It's time for Plan K – Kick some bad-guy butt!" Happy obliged and the two went soaring upwards. "There!" Natsu pointed. They were high enough now to see that the magic blasts were originating from a single spot in the treeline to the west of the cave. "Drop me right overhead!"

"Aye Sir!" Happy swooped towards the source of the blasts and released Natsu.

"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu dove fist first, cracking open the ground. The three men who had been firing shots stumbled, dropping the rifles in their hands. One had been in the midst of replacing the magazine on his and tens of oblong lacrimae skittered out from the open container, one rolling to a stop at Natsu's feet.

"Huh? What's this?" he paused to examine it, giving the men enough time to recover their weapons.

"Hunters! Shoot!" one of the men cried, his authoritative tone distinguishing him as the leader. He pointed his finger towards Natsu. "Take care of him. I'm going after our real prize."

The two remaining men turned toward Natsu as their leader sprang away. One of them was whippet thin, the other considerably more muscled. The thinner one was still fumbling with the magazine of his rifle. It appeared to be a smaller version of the Jupiter cannon they had at Fairy Tail.

"Natsu! I recognise them. They're from the hunter's guild Artemis Nock. They're the ones who told us how to find this place."

"Hugo, cover me! My magazine's stuck. I can't reload my Callisto."

The burlier man stepped forward to cover his friend and unleashed a salvo at Natsu. Natsu ducked and dodged, the shots easier to evade at close-range. "Fire Dragon Crushing Fang!"

The man fell backwards, knocked off his feet by the force of Natsu's blow. The rifle slipped out of his hand and bounced along the earth, all the while firing shots.

"Whoa shit! The safety's off!" The thinner man yelled, diving towards the gun. The recoil of the gun was making it jump around in all directions.

"Look out!" Natsu cried. He barely managed push the man to safety. He felt a shot whizz past his calf and smelled smoking cotton.

"We have to stop it! It's got enough bullets to take us all down." A shot streaked past them again. The movements of the rifle were unpredictable. It was bouncing all over the clearing, too dangerous to approach. It was even managing to get some shots off skyward, keeping Happy away as well.

"L-Ludo," the brawny man managed to say, regaining consciousness. His eyes were wide with fear. Ludo's face paled as he saw that the next shot was heading straight for his comrade.

"Hugo! No!"

Hugo looked to his left and saw the bullet speeding towards him. Was this it? Would this be the last thing he saw before he died? A blinding whiteness enveloped his vision before rapidly giving way to trees. Trees? And stars? He became dimly aware of heavy breathing. "So. Heavy," a childish voice panted. He turned his head to see the blue Bird-Cat had his paws tightly around the scruff of his shirt. He had been lifted to safety!

Not for long, however. He could sense the Bird-Cat tiring. The beats of his wings were slower than before. "Ludo, toss me your gun!" he called down.

"Bastard! We just saved your life and you want to attack us?" Natsu swore, rolling out of the way of shots that were still spewing forth from the Callisto rifle.

"I'm sorry there's no time! Ludo!" he shouted again. Ludo nodded in understanding and tossed up his rifle. The burly man gave it a hard whack, shaking the magazine loose. A single round lingered at the bottom. The next second, he had expertly refitted it into the rifle. "Hold steady Bird-Cat," he instructed in a low voice.

"Aye Sir!" Happy growled, his voice rough from exertion. The hunter held the gun aloft, his eye narrowing through the viewfinder. Crack! The shot sped decisively towards the spitting rifle. The ground erupted in light. The shot had found its mark, but the unexploded lacrimae within the rifle were now unleashing their energy. Natsu found himself thrown backwards by the force of the blast. When his vision cleared he saw the forest around him had been reduced to a smouldering crater, the smoke wisping upwards into a mushroom shaped cloud. Happy and the big man, Hugo, landed next to him. On his other side, Natsu could make out the skinny man, Ludo, rising from the dust.

"That's our Hugo! He isn't called the Sharpshooter of Artemis Nock for no reason," Ludo coughed out, laying a hand proudly on his friend's shoulder. They smiled at each other in relief.

Their respite was short-lived. Natsu was on his feet before either of them could realise what was happening. "You bastards!" he snarled, grabbing them both by the collar. He shook them roughly, hard enough that they could feel their teeth rattle in their heads. "Who the hell are you and why did you hurt Erza?"

The two men stumbled over their words in their rush to explain. "We-we were just hunting the Great Dread! T-tell him Ludo!"

"Whoa man, what's an Erza? We didn't hurt no Erza."

"Erza is our comrade, dummy!" Happy snapped from above them. "You hit her with one of your bullets!"

"Whoa, shit man!" Ludo's face paled. He knew what a Callisto bullet could do to a human. Being struck by the weapon meant certain death. Ludo looked toward Hugo for confirmation. He had fired solely upon the giant pig, aiming away from the humans in the clearing.

Hugo scowled. "Alexei," he said grimly. It had been Alexei's idea to follow the group of wizards in the first place. Hunting the Great Dread had become the man's obsession. But now he had gone too far.

"What the hell, I thought your guild didn't hunt sentence creatures anyway!" Happy said.

"Sentence creatures?" Hugo's brow furrowed.

"I think he means sentient. Wait. Whoa, are you saying the Great Dread is sentient?!" Ludo stopped striving to loosen Natsu's grip. "Hugo, we've got to stop Alexei before it's too late. He won't stop until the Dread is dead. The guild! The guild will be ruined!" The blood drained from his face. The rules governing Giltenese Hunters' Guilds were strict. They would be stripped of their license, blacklisted, forced to disband. Their family would be destroyed.

"Yo Musclehead, Matchstick Man" Natsu said coolly, his grip around both their throats not loosening in the slightest. The priorities that had been warring in his chest, Erza and the Guardian Spirit, had fallen silent. A new priority had raised its head. This man, Alexei. Lucy was in danger. An eerie stillness descended upon his thoughts in that moment. A fury so deep that it could not rage seared through his chest. He set both men down on the ground. "You want to save your guild?" he bit out. "Help me save my comrade."

* * *

The purple haired man known as Alexei sped through the forest. He was so close. The ultimate quarry was finally within his reach! He had been right. The group of Ishgarians had drawn the Dread out of hiding. This was going to be the highlight of his career. His lifetime. His legacy. Everything he had ever worked for was within reach. Sure, he had seen the Dread speaking to the children and knew he could not legally hunt it. But who would tell on him? Those morons, Ludovic and Hugo did not know, and if they found out, well, there was an easy solution to that as well. He fingered the Callisto rifle in his grip. 'Soon,' he thought, 'soon all my dreams will come true.'

* * *

The firing had stopped. Lucy blinked opened her eyes slowly and saw lights flashing in the forest to the west. Natsu had finally found their attackers. Her body was covered in bruises. The Guardian Spirit had finally managed to throw her off and she had landed hard on an outcropping of rocks. She struggled to her feet. The Guardian Pig was still flailing about. The pain from its wounds having chased sanity out of its grasp. The left side of its body was a smoking mass of burnt flesh. Every thrashing movement the Spirit made only aggravated its wounds. Lucy needed to pacify the Spirit and assess its wounds. Maybe attempt to patch some of them up. She wished Wendy was there to help, but Erza needed her help more. She bit her lip, hoping her friend would make it through. She grasped the handle of her whip firmly.

"Fleuve d'étoiles." She attempted to use the whip to bind the Pig in place, but the Guardian kept twisting out of the ribbon of stars. "Damn it," she muttered. An idea struck her and she pulled out another one of her Golden Keys.

"Open the Gate of the Lion! Loke!"

"Your prince is here!" Loke winked at Lucy before a serious expression settled onto his face. "How can I help?"

Lucy transformed into her Leo Star Dress. "I need you to help me get the thong around that pig!"

Loke's face went red and light glinted off his glasses. He pushed them up his nose hurriedly and moved towards Lucy's hips. "Wow, I didn't know the Leo Star Dress came with that!"

Lucy belatedly realised what she had said. "Not MY thong you idiot! The thong of the whip!"

"Aha! So you ARE wearing a thong!"

"Forced Gate Closure!" She ignored her irritation and fumbled for another key. "Open the Gate of the Goat! Capricorn!"

A tall humanoid goat appeared before her. Before Lucy could issue a command, he grabbed the fall of the whip and set off. "I've got this Lucy-sama!"

Lucy flexed the whip, generating metres and metres of starry ribbon as Capricorn helped twist it around the Guardian Pig's body. Finally, the Pig was restrained, but it kept struggling to break free. Remembering that sometimes a quick slap could deliver someone from their hysteria, Lucy took aim at the Guardian's forehead. Light enveloped her foot as she launched herself towards it. "Regulus Lucy Kick!"

It worked. The Guardian fell back only a fraction of an inch, but it was enough to snap it to its senses. Its eyes cleared. "Lucy. What? Why did you attack me?" it questioned, hurt and anger mingling in its voice.

"We didn't. It was someone else. Natsu's gone after them. The others are with Erza. She's hurt."

"Oh," it paused, digesting the information. "Oh no. Did I?"

"No, she was trying to shield you from our attackers."

"I'm sorry." The Pig looked toward the ground.

"You're hurt. Let me and Capricorn tend to your wounds." If any of her Celestial Spirits had any medical ability, it would have to be Capricorn. They set about unwinding the river of stars from around the Guardian's enormous body.

The Pig nodded its massive head. Night had fallen all around them and neither of them was sure that the danger had abated. The flashing lights from the forest had ceased, but Natsu was not yet back with them. "Yes, we should get out of the open," the Spirit said. "It isn't safe. Come on, my cave is right there."

"Too late," a sinister voice called from the roof of the cave. A tall figure stood silhouetted against the sky, an outsized rifle in its hand. It took aim and fired.

* * *

A twig cracked in the dark. Wendy looked up from the book she was furiously reading. Her senses were on alert for danger. Her shoulders relaxed as she recognised the familiar smells of her comrades. She took off Lucy's Gale-Force Reading Glasses and got to her feet.

Minutes later Gray stumbled into camp, Erza in his arms. Framed against the blackness of the night they painted a grotesque of newlywed carrying his bride over the threshold of their home. Rivulets of sweat ran down Gray's face. His shirt was soaked but surprisingly he had not stopped to strip. There had been no time. He held Erza slightly away from his body, to avoid his sweat from contaminating her wounds. He laid her carefully upon the pallet Wendy had unrolled by the fire.

"What can I do? How can I help?" he panted. Halfway through the journey, Erza's breathing had slowed dangerously and her temperature had dropped. Wendy laid a hand on Erza's head, muttering an incantation. She gestured with her free hand to a sheet of paper on the ground. "Gather those herbs Gray-san. I've drawn illustrations."

Charle flew into camp, hurriedly emptied the canteens she was carrying into the cauldron bubbling over the fire and flew out again. Gray snatched up the list and shot off into the forest. His breathing was still laboured, but it did not matter to him. He could breathe later. Erza was too important.

Wendy cleaned the dried blood and grime from Erza's body and then draped her in blankets to try and raise her temperature. She focused her healing magic on the lacerations on Erza's face and neck. Fortunately her armour had absorbed most of the damage of the attack. However Erza had still lost a lot of blood. Wendy looked worriedly at her right eye. That was the real problem. It had borne the brunt of the damage.

A metallic jangling disrupted the stillness of the night as Charle flew in with the last of the water, exhausted from her many trips to the river. She sat under a tree and closed her eyes, channelling her clairvoyance. Gray returned next, his hands overflowing with herbs. Wendy wordlessly washed them with cold water from one of the canteens before dumping them in the cauldron. "Now what?" he asked.

"Now we wait."

* * *

Hellfire was raining down upon her again. Capricorn had scooped her up and carried her out of range but the Guardian Pig was crying once again in agony. "Capricorn, take me back," Lucy instructed. "I need to help the Guardian. You have to stop that man."

For a minute it looked like Capricorn was about to protest but then his mouth set in a firm line. "Yes, Lucy-sama."

Lucy found herself being set beside the Guardian Spirit. "Open the Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius!"

A man in a horse costume appeared before Lucy. He saluted smartly. "Hello!"

"Star Dress: Sagittarius Form! Sagittarius, I need your help to block the shots coming towards us!" The same tactic had worked on the hunter from Sylph Labyrinth.

"Right away, hello!"

Both she and the Celestial Spirit took aim, sending their arrows straight towards an incoming bullet. The Guardian Pig stood nervously beside them. It had nowhere to run or to take cover. These two were its only hope. Fortunately it had managed to retain its lucidity and was not rampaging like it had been before.

The two arrows, one made of wood the other made of light, diminished into nothingness the face of the shot from the Callisto rifle. Sagittarius made to protect Lucy and absorb the blow. "Get back, hello!"

With astonishing speed the Guardian set its foreleg before the two, the bright light of the bullet sizzling into its hock. It bellowed in distress. But it had no time to waste. The next bullet was already coming. It sucked in a deep breath and let out a roar that shook the trees and sent the animals of the forest scampering towards safety. For the second time that day, the birds took to the sky and flew hell for leather out of the place. The roar was enough to knock the enemy off the cave, but not enough to detach the gun from his grip. Capricorn seized the opportunity and attacked him, using his advanced hand-to-hand combat skills to keep his opponent from firing another shot.

Unfortunately, their enemy had managed to fire off a shot before being taken down by the Pig's roar and it now zipped towards the Pig's head, tearing a rent through its skull and cracking its head open. Fragments of bone the size of wagon wheels crashed to the ground around it.

"Lucy quick. We don't have much time," the Guardian Pig slurred. It was losing consciousness. It just had to keep it together for a few more minutes. There was so much more to say, so much more it had wanted to tell these brave children who had undertaken the quest but it was being robbed of time. The spectre of death loomed before it, but it had one last card to play. Maybe it could cheat death after all. It had done it once before after all; all those years ago when the dragon slayer had come calling.

"Lucy," it rasped again, "I need you to get the Key. I bequeath it to you. You have completed the Task."

"Now's not the time for that!" Lucy said vehemently. She had emerged from under the Guardian Spirit. Her nostrils filled with the rancid stench of burning flesh. "Yo-your head!" she said, glancing upwards. Tears sprang to her eyes.

"You must. If I die before you get the Key, I'll truly be dead. It happened to one of my comrades before. You must lay hands on the Key," it urged, "Once you touch the Key, I'll be dismissed until the Quest is reset. I can return to the heavens. I can live." The breath shuddered through its body. The light in its eyes was fading fast.

Understanding dawned in Lucy's eyes. "Star Dress: Scorpio Form!" She needed the enhanced speed it granted her; this was going to come down to the wire. She could barely discern the iridescent patina of the key where it leaned against the mouth of the cave. Funny how it still stood there despite the tumultuous events of the day.

"Lucy-sama!" Capricorn came shooting past her. He had been knocked back by the man with the gun. His sunglasses were cracked and his blazer was ripped. "I'm sorry I could not do more."

'Shit. Not now!' Lucy thought, glancing to her right to see that the slightly battered man was taking aim once more. This time, the barrel of his rifle was aimed at her. He must have overheard what the Guardian had said to her.

"I won't let you have it. The beast is mine!" he cackled maniacally. Spittle dribbling from his frothing mouth.

"I'll cover you, hello!" Sagittarius laid down suppressive fire. Arrow after arrow flitted towards the enemy. Lucy mentally thanked her faithful spirit and kept going. She was almost there, she was only metres from the mouth of the cave.

The enemy whipped out a pistol from his belt at an impossible speed and aimed it towards Sagittarius. The cumbersome rifle was too slow for the task and its power was unnecessary against such puny opponents. Sagittarius failed to react in time. Lucy sensed rather than heard his apology as his gate closed. The pistol was now aimed towards her. A bullet whipped past her, grazing her arm. Pain shot up her shoulder and she could feel the warmth of blood dripping down her hand. But she did not waver. She was so close. If she did not reach the key in time, the Guardian's life was forfeit. Considerations of her own safety were far from her mind, her desire to help her new friend forefront on her mind. Lucy grit her teeth and put on an additional burst of speed, the muscles in her thighs were burning. The air cracked as more bullets flew towards her, one of them missing her by only a hair's width. Crack! Crack! Crack! She felt the flesh of her leg rip as a shot ripped into it. Pain wracked her body as her femur cracked. She could feel her leg giving way under her. She was going to fall. The Guardian Spirit was going to die.

"No!" The scream tore itself from her body.

An image of Erza flashed through her mind. That's right. Erza had been in such a situation before. Lucy gathered the last of her strength into her right leg and kicked out as hard as she could. She listed dangerously to the side as she flew forward. For a moment it looked like she had overshot her target, that the unbalanced nature of her jump had veered her too far off course. She stretched out her hand as far as it would go. "Please!"

The tip of her middle finger barely brushed against the cool surface of the Key as she flew past. But it was enough. The Spirit exhaled a sigh of relief that could be heard throughout the forest. Lucy turned onto her back. A smile distinguished itself on the Guardian Spirit's face just before it faded from view. She had done it. She had saved its life!

"You bitch!" She heard the hammer of a rifle cock. "You're going to pay."

* * *

Gray paced a groove into the clearing floor. He was vaguely aware of Charle and Wendy consulting each other but their words blended into an incoherent drone. He did not understand anything they were saying, herbs and medicine were far from his expertise.

The infusion took forever to boil. Those twenty minutes were the longest twenty minutes of Gray's life. He had experienced death before. Felt a similar bullet of magic pass through his body. It had been a painful way to die, but this was worse. What if it had passed through her eye into her brain? What if, even as Erza lay breathing before his eyes, her brain was dying a slow death? He gulped desperately, his throat suddenly dry. It did not bear thinking about.

"Gray-san. Charle. It's time." Wendy pulled Erza's mouth open and placed a stick wrapped in cloth between her teeth before rising and scooping a ladleful of the boiling infusion from the cauldron. She directed Charle to hold Erza's eyes open. "I need you to hold her down Gray-san. No matter how much she screams or struggles, you absolutely cannot let her go." She saw the expression on Gray's face and her voice softened. "Please. It's the only way to save her life."

Gray acquiesced, moving to Erza's side and grasping her arms in readiness. He laid his knee over her thighs, ready to press down and hold her in place when the time came.

"Now Charle." The white Exceed parted Erza's swollen eyelids and Wendy poured the boiling decoction directly into her right eye. Erza woke with a scream of pain. Gray gripped her arms harder. "Just a little longer Erza-san. Almost finished." Wendy lied with a smoothness that only doctors possessed. She scooped another ladleful of the mixture and returned to Erza's side.

Erza stilled as Wendy's voice filtered through to her. "OK," she garbled out.

Her teeth tightened around the stick in her mouth but she did not struggle as Wendy poured another measure of boiling liquid into her eye. Her self-control in the face of absolute pain took Gray by surprise. He should have been used to it by now. Of course she could take the pain. She was Erza. He slid his hands down her shoulders to her palms and laced his fingers with hers, silently offering her strength.

She squeezed his hands, mangling his fingers in an attempt to relieve the pain coursing through her body. She did not need to do it. She was strong. She could have managed. But it felt so good not to have to.

The four of them continued in silence for hours, Erza grunting her protest when Wendy suggested they take a break, give her some temporary relief from the pain. Finally, the pot was scraped empty. Wendy poured the last of the boiling liquid into the wound. Erza passed out the second she was done.

The remaining three took turns between resting, keeping watch and tending to Erza. She developed a fever in the middle of the night, her clammy brow needing to be wiped down with cool water every twenty minutes. Gray slept fitfully when his turn came. He was relieved that Erza was still alive, but he could not ignore the worry that creased Wendy's brow every time she looked at their comrade. Even Charle was unusually quiet, not uttering a single snide remark when he eventually stripped off his clothes. He was watching over Erza when day finally broke, gently smoothing her hair away from her moist forehead. His pulse quickened when he noticed her stir. Shock shot through him when she eventually opened her eyes and met his. One eye was normal; warmth shining at him from its burnt umber depths.

In the place of the other was a shiny, hard lacrima.

* * *

Alexei aimed the Callisto rifle at the blonde haired girl. The Great Dread was gone. His prey was gone. His dreams had been so close to coming true, he could still feel them shifting, whispering, just out of reach. She had ruined everything. "Die!" he screamed. "Die! Die! Die!" He unleashed a round of bullets, emptying his magazine at her. Dust and smoke mingled and obscured her from view but that did not matter. One shot would have been enough to kill her; so many of them would have obliterated any trace of her from the world. Good. It was what she deserved. That bitch.

The cloud of dust began to dissipate. No. Alexei's eyes widened. The dust was not dissipating. It was disappearing. It was if it was being sucked up by something.

"Now that I've eaten, I'm all fired up!"

The pink-haired boy from earlier stood before him. The blonde girl lay behind him, untouched. "Natsu," she whispered, turning grateful eyes towards her rescuer.

"Yo Lucy." Natsu grinned at her charmingly. It was so good to see his handsome visage again. Suddenly his cheeks puffed up and his face took on a purplish tinge. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"You moron! Who told you eat something random that's not even your element?" She was scolding him, but there was a smile on her face.

Happy flew in, looking at her with concern. "Lucy, are you OK?"

Lucy winced in pain and indicated her bleeding leg. The bullet had fortunately missed any major arteries, but there was no way she would be able to walk. "I'll be alright," she said bravely.

Natsu's expression turned serious. He turned towards Alexei, dragon scales rippling along his bare arms. The influx of energy activating his Dragon Force. "You bastard. You hurt Lucy. I'm going to turn you to ash."

Flames engulfed Natsu's body; their brilliance illuminating the greyness of twilight. Alexei spun his trusty pistols around in his hands once before firing simultaneous shots at Natsu. He was a good shot; every bullet he aimed at the mage found its mark, but it was to no avail. The projectiles were consigned to oblivion in the face of the inferno swirling around the dragon slayer's form.

Panic swept over Alexei. What was this boy? Surely, he was not human. "Mon-monster!" he mouthed soundlessly. Fear had stolen the breath from his lungs. He discarded the pistols in his hands and reached for the array of other guns he carried on his belt. "St-stay away!" He fired his weapons at the creature that was walking steadily towards him. But the monster kept coming.

"Fire Dragon Roar!" A blazing vortex of fire spewed forth from the wizard's mouth; its power hitting Alexei full in the face, sending him tumbling into the cliffside. His hair and clothes were singed. He struggled to breath, the fire had burnt the air from his lungs. But the wizard was not done. Alexei saw the anger and hatred on his face and trembled.

Natsu brought his hands together and unleashed a dazzling ball of fire at the huntsman. "Fire Dragon King's Brilliant Flame!"

It incinerated everything in its path. Alexei was petrified. He willed his feet to move. To run. But they were rooted to the ground. He felt the hard wall of the cliffside behind his back. The wizard in front of him was terrifying. Soon all that was left of him would be a shadow etched on the stone behind his back. Maybe he deserved it. Maybe he had lost too much of himself in his quest for greatness. He shut his eyes and braced for impact.

An instant of scorching heat tore past his flank, blisters popping and bursting on his forearms. Alexei's eyes flew open in surprise. The wizard had missed. What the hell?

A cool shadow shaded him from the light of the breaking dawn. No, there were two shadows, overlapping. He could see a broad back and another, much narrower one standing before him. His guild-mates. Their arms were spread, shielding him. Protecting him.

"Please," they both said in unison, "please don't kill our guild-mate! Please don't hurt our friend!"

Alexei fell to his knees. What had he done? He had broken his sacred oath as a hunter. He had endangered his friends. His family. Even now, after everything, all those terrible things, they were still protecting him. Tears dripped down his nose onto the earth below his shaking hands.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry!" He was wretched. His noisy sobs reverberated around the clearing, stark in their contrast to the gentle sounds of a waking world.

Natsu looked at him for a long while, the expression on his face forbidding. "You put your guild at risk. Your nakama at risk. To me, that is unforgivable." He paused, taking in the determined expressions on the faces of the two men before him and the pathetic expression of the man behind them. "Lucky for you, it is not me you have to beg forgiveness from." He turned away. "Happy. Let's get Lucy back to camp."

"Aye Sir!" Happy made to lift Lucy into the air.

Lucy had ripped strips of fabric from her t-shirt and bound a makeshift splint to her leg, hoping it would steady her broken bone. Even so, she still could not control the shriek of pain that escaped her lips when Happy tried to move her. It hurt too much. There was no way she would be able to make the journey back to camp.

Natsu was at her side at once. He ran his hands over her injuries worriedly, wondering how he could transport her to Wendy as quickly and as painlessly as possible. "Damn it!" he cursed, realising there were no good options at hand.

"Uh, sorry," interrupted the gangly huntsman timidly, "maybe we can help?"

* * *

"Um, Gray-san?" Wendy was peering up through the thick foliage of a cedar tree. "What do you think that is?"

The trio were presently engaged in collecting the miscellaneous items from Erza's pocket dimension that were still turning up in random places. Just that morning Gray had fished a child-sized iron besagew from his porridge after it had found its way into their supply of oats. Charle had assured him and Wendy that the others were making their way back to camp based on a vision she had had earlier, leaving him with nothing to do that morning but wait for their return. He was exhausted. He had barely slept the night before but the nervous energy coursing through his body prevented him from resting. He suspected the same applied to Wendy and Charle. That was why the three of them had embarked on a sort of scavenger hunt to track down the handful of Erza's belongings that they had missed the previous day.

He sighed as he cast his eye towards the fourth member of their party. She was sitting some distance away from their campsite, her hunched back barely visible through the trees. She had not spoken a word since she had regained consciousness that morning. He cursed himself for his inability to control his facial expressions. One look at his mien and she had requipped a mirror into her hand. Abject horror had darkened her face and she had fled, though to his relief she had not strayed far from sight. Knowing that she needed some time to process her emotions, they had all elected to leave her alone. He stroked his chin contemplatively and looked down at the little dragon slayer.

"Hmm, it looks interesting," he replied, "Charle, want to get it down for us?"

Charle grumbled at him but flew up and retrieved the item anyway, dropping it on Gray's head. "Oh?" Gray said, as he examined the item, "Hey Wendy, maybe you'd have some use for this." He tossed it at the girl.

She reached out a hand and caught it, then blushed bright pink when she unfolded the article of clothing. It was a training bra.

"Wow Wendy, it looks just your size!" Charle fluttered over, flipping over a tag attached to the bra to check. The words "Property of Erza Scarlet, Age 10' stared back at them.

"A-age t-t-ten?" Wendy whimpered, slumping into a nearby tree trunk, her hands clutching at her inadequate chest. The sting of humiliation was too much. Charle patted her back half-heartedly. "Huh?" her ears pricked up. Something was approaching.

A large green jeep trundled into the clearing. Wendy recognised the two men who sat in the front. A mixture of familiar scents tickled her nose. Tumbling out of the back of the vehicle came a bundle of pink and black. It came to a stop on the grass in the centre of the clearing before predictably throwing up. Wendy sweatdropped. "Welcome back."

* * *

It was finally quiet. Gray observed the stillness of their campsite, the midmorning sun slanting across the sleeping faces of his comrades. Wendy had keeled over after setting the bone in Lucy's leg, too tired to even stand. Charle had caught her by the collar of her dress and dragged her over to her bed roll before collapsing onto the pillow beside her. Lucy rested peacefully in the shade of an elm tree, her bandaged leg resting upon a rolled up sleeping bag. Happy lay snoring in her arms, a bubble of snot seeking to escape his nostril. The three men from the hunter's guild had gone off to find them all something substantial to eat. They had left their jeep behind and an inquisitive rabbit was currently scampering across the dashboard, sniffing the various knobs and dials.

Gray succumbed to the weariness that was weighing down his limbs. He sank to the ground and leaned back against the rough bark of a handy tree, barely awake. Though fatigue blurred his vision, he still kept a watchful eye on Erza. Would she be OK? A pink blob emerged into view and approached her. Gray smiled, finally allowing himself to be dragged into unconsciousness. Yes, she would be OK.

Erza looked up at the sound of footsteps. "Natsu," she noted dully. He took a seat on the rock next to her, drawing his legs up and folding them under him. A bird chirruped in the tree above them, its high-pitched trill receding into the quiet. Natsu looked ahead, not glancing over at Erza, not saying a word. The solidity of his presence was comforting.

The magic from the bullet should have killed her. Overloaded her circuits and fried her brain. Yet again, her life was beholden to her artificial eye. It had absorbed much of the blow. Wendy had drawn the remaining magic from her system into it and sealed it into a lacrima. She would have died then, from magical deficiency, if the continent was not blessed with an overabundance of ethernano. It had replenished her empty Origins quickly. Her fever the only evidence that she had been in any danger at all.

The hard shell of the lacrima chafed uncomfortably against the bone of her orbit and Erza found it hard to blink her eye. Her fist clenched reflexively around the object in her hand.

Noticing the movement, Natsu reached out his hand and plucked the object from her grasp. A tattered white eyepatch swung from his fingertips.

"I kept it," she explained, "to remember. Shou, Wally, Milliana, Simon… Jellal. The Tower of Heaven seems like such a long time ago now, yet…" She chuckled cynically. "And yet I cannot bring myself to put it on. There are too many bad memories."

"Is that all?" Natsu groused. He placed the eyepatch back in Erza's open hand and got to his feet before beaming at her. "I'll just make you a new one!"

Surprise overtook her features before a soft smile settled upon her face. "You can sew?" she inquired lightly.

"Of course I can sew! Who do you think makes Happy's clothes?"

He was gone before she could articulate her puzzled reply. "But Happy doesn't wear any clothes."

The next day as they headed towards the next stage of their adventure, a cheerful eyepatch could be seen adorning Erza's smiling face.

* * *

A figure detached itself from the eldritch shadows surrounding the forest. It observed the Questers dispassionately, clumping along noisily in their new vehicle. They were a sorry looking bunch. Two members of the group were leaning out of the vehicle, dry heaves retching out of their mouths every few seconds. The others looked equally worse for wear. There were more bandages on their bodies than items of clothing. And yet. And yet they had already retrieved two Keys. The figure pulled a flat transparent rectangle from its pocket and dialled the only contact in the device's memory. "Hello Master?" it rasped. "We've got a credible threat on our hands."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise to Wendy for saying she is hard to write. Natsu is the troublesome one. I read the manga, I watch the anime, I still can't predict what he will say or do. Doesn't help that 80% of his dialogue is sound effects. Sorry for the late update, hopefully future ones will come quicker.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Natsu phones home. Complications arise from Erza's injury. The gang bumps into unfamiliar yet familiar faces in a new town! Fairy Tail hijinks abound. With some ecchi moments.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some parts of this chapter reference Chapter 25 of the 100 Years Quest Manga, but there are no real spoilers. It was a kind of omake chapter, so there isn't much that can be spoiled anyway.

A sense of foreboding settled upon Gray. The ominous prickle at the back of his neck was all too familiar. He shuddered. It was coming. No. It was already here.

"Gray-sama!" The voice dripped with so much love that one could see hearts in the air that carried the sound.

Gray winced. "Hello Juvia."

The seven of them were clustered around a glowing crystal tablet, in the process of making their monthly call back to the guild. They jostled for space on the narrow bed, the only surface in their hotel room big enough to endeavour accommodating all of them. "Hm Mira, I thought you said Juvia was on a mission," Gray drawled sarcastically.

"Did I?" Mira cocked her head to the side, an innocent smile playing on her face. "Oh dear, I must have gotten the dates wrong." Cana, Macao and Wakaba smirked in the background.

Warren had rigged up an array of lacrimae around the guild and focused their signals onto a large monitor in the guildhall, allowing the questers to see all their nakama at once. The invention had proved crucial after their first call back home had ended in the destruction of Fairy Tail's only communication system. Too many wizards had crowded around the tiny orb, pushing and shoving. A brawl had broken out after a mistimed elbow had slammed into a face, the owners of both items indiscernible in the chaos. That attempt at communication had lasted all of five seconds.

"Gray-sama how could you leave Juvia behind? Juvia was so worried! Juvia tried to hire herself out as a bodyguard for you but Master declined the request," Juvia prattled on. Gray sweatdropped, tuned out the verbal blitz and hoped fervently that she would tire herself out eventually. He tried to ignore the heavy sense of shame that settled upon him every time he saw Juvia. He had failed to protect her, she had given her life for his. The burden of the responsibility he felt towards her was almost too much. "Huh?" Something at the back of the screen had caught his attention. His eyes narrowed in recognition. It couldn't be?

"Jellal?" Erza's surprised whisper cut through the clamour.

The crowd onscreen parted as the man strode forward. "Warren sent out a telepathic bulletin that you had called," he said.

"Telepathic bulletin? But that only goes out to Fairy Tail members." Her eyes widened. "Did you join the guild?"

"No, but I did," a female voice chimed in. A pink-haired woman stepped out from behind Jellal, the pink mark of Fairy Tail high on her left breast.

"Meredy!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Hi Lucy! Everyone!" Meredy waved at them shyly.

Mirajane explained, "After being pardoned by the Queen, Crime Sorcière disbanded. Meredy joined us a few weeks ago."

"I see," Erza nodded. But Jellal had not. And yet, he was in Magnolia. Why? 'Did he come looking for me?' she wondered idly. She shook her head, dismissing the thought. That was not his style.

"What happened to your eye?" he asked. Guilt shaded his expression. The eyepatch was a colourful explosion, a world away from the dingy white fabric that had blemished her face all those years ago, but the scars underneath were still the same. The memories that always hovered at the edge of his mind, that haunted him, slid now through the cracks in his defences.

"I got injured in battle," she replied. She tried to subdue the swell of hope that had risen in her chest upon seeing him, hoping it would take with it the stinging burn of heartache that had come with it. Anger, resentment, hope and love warred in her chest before being overpowered by another feeling: futility. She was suffocating under the burden of her tangled emotions. The despair in her eyes was mirrored in his. She found herself reaching towards the screen, her fingers moving to trace his face.

"Ice-prick, you're taking up too much space!" Natsu's voice brought her back to Earthland with a thump.

"I'm taking up too much space? I only have half a buttcheek on the bed as it is!"

She swallowed the lump in her throat. Her hand stopped inches from the screen, her fingers curling into a fist. Jellal remained out of reach.

"Cut it out you two!" Her punch sent them both flying clear across the room. Irritation sparked on her temple, sweeping away her other emotions. A glance at the lacrima showed that Jellal too had become distracted by Meredy.

The words between them went unsaid yet again.

* * *

"The quest is going well," Lucy said, "I wish I could tell you all about it!"

"Don't worry about it Lu-chan, even though my curiosity is killing me." Levy angled the lacrima higher, hoping to catch all the books on the shelf. "Can you see better now?"

"Yes. Sorry to make you do this, but I can't tell you what kind of books I need because that would break the rules of the quest."

"Maybe someday you can figure out how to circumvent the rules and write about it in a story," Levy said, her voice uncharacteristically sly for a moment before returning to her normal tone. "Besides, we might as well use the time productively. Romeo isn't back yet."

Romeo had been sent to fetch Porlyusica the moment the call had connected. Wendy had wanted to consult with her on Erza's injury. Lucy's fractured leg had already healed thanks to her magic, but her enchantments had proved ineffective on Erza. She had started experiencing dizzy spells, the frequency of which was increasing. The last few times the intensity had been so high that Erza had fainted. Team Natsu had been on their way to western Giltena the second time that had happened, so they stopped off at a nearby village to consult a physician.

Wendy was grateful that the huntsmen from Artemis Nock had insisted on giving the team their magical vehicle, despite Erza and Natsu's many protestations. "We owe it to you all. Our guild would have been forced to disband if not for you," they had said. Alexei had stood behind the others, apologetic and shamefaced. "Please accept it," he entreated Erza, "you almost died because of me. I know I do not deserve it, but please allow me the peace of mind of knowing I tried to make amends. It's not nearly enough to make up for what I did, but I need to start somewhere."

His sincerity had moved Erza. She acquiesced and accepted the gift, much to Natsu's chagrin. He had then tried to burn the vehicle and render it unusable, but one swift blow to the stomach by Erza had knocked him out cold. Wendy had been too afraid to say a word after that and had quietly resigned herself to a future of motion-sickness. Still, Giltena was vast and sparsely populated. The vehicle had proved its advantage when Erza had fainted the first time. Her condition had not been serious, but had they been on foot, there was no way they could have reached help in time.

When their search for a physician in the village turned out unfruitful, Wendy had elected to call home rather than take the four hour car ride to the next town. She hoped consulting with Porlyusica would not be considered outside help or else it would nullify their contract for the quest. Charle had convinced her that since Erza's artificial eye predated the quest, it would be OK. Wendy could only cross her fingers and pray she was right.

"Geehee, Lucy, I'm going to have to arrest you for taking up too much of my fiancée's time," Gajeel said, appearing on the lacrima's fluorescent screen.

"Your f-fiancée?"

"Oi you scrap iron bastard, if you want to arrest Lucy you'll have to go through me first!"

"Is that a challenge Salamander?"

The two dragon slayers bickered, their tempers rising. Finally Natsu unleashed a Fire Dragon Roar at the lacrima, Gajeel letting loose with an Iron Dragon Club at the same time.

"Solid Script: Rope!" Levy chanted onscreen, conjuring up a rope to restrain her husband-to-be. "Gajeel, you dummy!"

"Natsu no!" Lucy yelled simultaneously, tossing the communication lacrima out of harm's way. However, in her rush to save the expensive device she failed to protect herself. The flames licked up her torso, burning away her shirt and leaving her breasts exposed.

Natsu cocked his head to the side, his curious eyes raking over her body. "Say Lucy, how come you never wear a bra?"

"Eroi!" Happy smirked in the corner.

"Gyaah!" Lucy cried, covering her chest with her hands. "Don't look pervert!"

"It's just that you own a lot of fancy lingeri-" He was cut off as Lucy delivered a sharp kick to his face. The sound of Lucy's scolding blended with the exasperated exclamations of 'Dummy! Dummy! Dummy!' that were floating tinnily from the tablet.

"And so," Pantherlily continued explaining over the commotion, "Gajeel performed the song he wrote from Levy in front of everyone in the guildhall. She was traumatised by the performance and wouldn't speak to him." Erza, Charle, Gray and Wendy were nodding at the screen, their attention rapt. "So Gajeel snuck into her room at Fairy Hills and filled the room with flowers-"

"You bastard, don't tell them all that!" Gajeel yelled from the chair he was tied up in.

"And got down on one knee. He made me record the whole thing on lacrima-cam, you can see it when you come home."

"Wow, who knew Gajeel-san could be so romantic?" Wendy sighed romantically.

"Hmmph, if he hadn't upset her in the first place he wouldn't have had to propose." Charle's indictment was scathing per usual.

"Say Erza, isn't this similar to the plot of that book you lent me?" Gray asked.

"Ah yes, the resemblance to the Amatory Adventures of Amateur Amanda is indubitable," Erza concurred.

"What the hell kind of perverted books do you people read?"

"You're one to talk Lucy," Gray replied, nodding meaningfully at her current position. Lucy looked down to see that her skirt had ridden up to her waist, her creamy white thighs straddling Natsu's face and her hands still on her breasts to try and protect her modesty. Blood rushed to her face and she struggled to explain. "I-It's not what it looks like!"

Charle looked scandalised and hurried to cover Wendy's eyes, only to find that the poor girl had passed out. Erza was gaping at the two on the floor, totally agog. 'It almost looks like she's taking mental notes,' Gray thought. Erza looked up at him and he hastened to turn his thoughts to less risqué matters. From the frown on her face he was both convinced and terrified that she could read his mind.

Onscreen, Gajeel, Levy and Lily had gone blue with shock. Levy's head jerked from Lucy's well-endowed bosom to her meagre chest and back again. Lucy's mountains. Her flatlands. Lucy's button-bursters. Her literal buttons. Lucy's embonpoint. Her look-drawn-on. Lucy's breasts were spilling out of her palms, barely contained by her small hands. Levy gulped and brought her own hands up to encompass the paucity of hers. Her head turned to Gajeel, beating a staccato with its convulsive rhythm. A thin trail of blood leaked from his nostril and his eyes had rolled back in his head. "I can't do this anymore!" Anguished, she ran from the room.

Her words shook Gajeel out of his trance. "No, Shrimp! Wait up! Damn it!" He cursed and took off running after her. Romeo walked into the library just then and stumbled as he was almost pulled along by the Gajeel's slipstream.

"What's going on?" he enquired curiously.

Gray and Lily both dived towards their respective lacrimae, having concurrently decided that today was not the day for Romeo to have his sexual awakening. Gray rapidly stuck the tablet out of the window and began blathering, "Ah see here Romeo, this is what a street looks like in Giltena."

He almost missed Natsu's muffled voice coming from under Lucy. It was a good thing he did not, because had he not heard it for himself, he would have never believed Natsu had said the words, "I need a cold shower."

* * *

"I keep telling you I hate humans and yet you force me to come here, to a place filled with humans." The healer was looking as ferocious as ever.

"Sorry Gr-Porlyusica-san," Wendy replied. Even after two years her instinct was to call her Grandeeney, despite knowing that the woman hated it. "It's cheaper to call once and have a long call than to call two different devices. Most of the magical energy gets used up in establishing the link between the devices."

Porlyusica harrumphed. "Well then, what do you want?"

Wendy explained the events of the past few days, taking care not to let any details from the mission slip. Porlyusica's brow furrowed and her expression grew troubled. "Fainting spells you say? What does the eye look like?"

Wendy did not meet her eyes. "I-I didn't check." Erza had been sensitive about the injury and Wendy had not wanted to cause her more distress.

"Please don't blame her, it's my fault," Erza said, walking up to Wendy. "I am not easy to order about."

"You. Are you experiencing any pain? Any headaches?"

"A little, but it is nothing I can't handle."

Wendy was taken aback. Erza had not mentioned the headaches to her. Porlyusica sighed angrily. "This is why I hate humans." She pointed towards Wendy. "You should care less about feelings and instead focus on the treatment. And you," her gaze shifted to Erza, "don't be such a stoic. These minor things can be symptoms of something greater. You could have endangered yourself by not sharing this information.

"Wendy, I'm sure by now you have realised what is happening to her. Erza take off your eyepatch," Porlyusica ordered. Erza obediently untied the knot that was holding it in place. Annoyance shifted to concern. "It's worse than I thought," Porlyusica said.

Erza looked to Wendy. Upon seeing the worry on her face she requipped a mirror into her hand. She raised it to take a look at her face but a tiny fireball knocked it out of her hand. "Don't. You don't want to see this," Natsu said. Erza turned towards him when he spoke, allowing the others to catch a glimpse of her injury. Broken veins spidered through swollen purple skin, skin that stretched gruesomely over bone that seemed too big for it. The corners of her eyelids gaped, allowing glimpses of the hairline fractures in the skull around it. The lacrima was growing, absorbing the magical energy from Erza's body, and threatening to burst free.

Lucy let out a gasp of horror. An acrid swell of anxiety oozed low in Erza's gut. Her eyes met Gray's. The alarm she found there was enough. She turned to the communication lacrima. "What can be done?" she asked matter-of-factly.

"You need a wizard who specialises in lacrimae."

"And then wha-Argh!" Erza fell to the knees, one hand clamped over her bad eye. Pain stabbed through her skull, tugging her along in its wake to the very edge of consciousness. Erza struggled to breathe through the pain. "And then what?" she bit out through gritted teeth.

Wendy knelt beside her, her cool hand on Erza's fevered brow. She muttered some basic enchantments. Lucy ran for help.

"Don your most powerful armour girl," Porlyusica's voice directed from the tablet, "It should stop more of your magic from being absorbed by the lacrima. Wendy, you need to find a lacrima specialist post-haste and remove that thing from her eye socket. If it swells anymore, the consequences could be fatal."

Erza requipped into her Nakagami Armour. Between the weight of the armour and the pain coursing through her body, she did not have the strength to stand. "Erza," Happy mumbled worriedly.

"Happy, don't stand there staring. Help me pack. We have to leave at once," Charle instructed. The two Exceeds flitted about the room, gathering the team's belongings. Natsu and Gray moved to either side of Erza, helping her to stand.

Lucy burst back into the room. "Tekka," she panted, "we can find a lacrima specialist in the town of Tekka. It's six hours north of here."

Wendy turned back to the tablet as the others escorted Erza from the room. "Thank you, Porlyusica-san."

"Hmmph. I'll assume that she makes it unless I hear from you again." she replied aloofly. But then her voice softened for an instant. "I had better not hear from you again."

* * *

The ride to Tekka was tense. Wendy was out of commission due to her motion sickness, so Erza's care was left to Charle and Gray. Gray was using his ice magic to keep Erza's temperature down as fever assailed her body.

She hovered on the edge of consciousness, knowing that if she allowed herself to slip into sleep she might never wake again. The armour was soaking up her magic power, diverting it away from the lacrima but it was a precarious balance. If she wore her Nakagami Armour for too long it would drain all the magic from her body and leave her with Magic Deficiency Disease, if she took it off, the magic would flood into the lacrima, causing it to swell further. She struggled against the agony radiating from her skull. She could not think. She licked her dry lips, too weak to even ask for water. Charle dripped water between her lips, alert to even the subtle changes in Erza's body language. An idea fluttered in the back of Erza's mind, something to do with Gray and Devil Slayer magic. The threads of thought slipped out of her fingers before she could grasp them. She drifted untethered on a sea of black, dipping in and out of consciousness. The fight to stay afloat was taking all her willpower. The waves of oblivion were crashing over her, pushing her under, drowning her. She tried to focus her mind, kicking out mentally and breaking the surface of unconsciousness. In a flash of clarity she saw the image that had earlier tickled out of reach. Gray redirecting Silver's magic through his body. Maybe she could do the same with the lacrima. Maybe she could… The currents pulled her under again and the idea whirlpooled away. When she next broke the surface, all memory of it was gone. All memory of herself was gone. She had lost her sense of self, she could not remember who she was or what she was doing; only that she wanted to live. That she must not let herself be swept away. That she must fight.

Natsu leaned over the side of the vehicle, retching. He could sense Erza's strength dwindling. "Go faster Lucy," he mumbled in between dry heaves. "We can take it."

"Aye Sir!" Lucy replied, casting a glance at the dashboard. The automobile's propulsion lacrima was running low. She grabbed the SE Plug lying by the clutch and fit it to her wrist. She hoped her power would last until they reached Tekka. "Here goes nothing," she muttered and floored it.

* * *

Erza had been in surgery for three hours. Lucy snuggled up to Natsu, the varnished wood of the waiting room chairs unpeeling from her thighs with a pop as she resettled herself. "It will be OK," she whispered. He grunted in response, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close. The arm of her chair jutted painfully into Lucy's ribs but she did not mind. She needed Natsu's warmth. It was reassuring. A constant in the shifting landscape around her. Her nakama had been injured before, but they always got better. Maybe she had taken that for granted. But here, in a foreign land where everything felt strange and new, uncertainty gripped her. She buried her nose into Natsu's chest, inhaling his familiar spicy scent. "It will be OK," she repeated, before falling into a fitful sleep.

* * *

The surgery lasted twelve hours. Unable to sit still and wait, Gray had wandered the streets of Tekka until the sun had come up, unconsciously discarding his clothes as he walked. He would have still been out there when Erza came out of surgery if the stares and whispers of the townspeople had not driven him indoors. Once he was back with the others, he had driven them to the verge of sanity with his restless pacing. Charle had finally ordered him to sit down. He was too on edge to not fidget. The anxiety tingled through his body, leaving his nerves jangling. He drummed an uneasy tattoo on his thigh, his eyes never leaving the door to the lacrima specialist's lab. Finally, the door opened and a tall woman in a long leather apron stepped out. Wendy exited the room right behind her.

"Well?" Charle asked.

Wendy's face broke out in a smile. She nodded at them all. Hushed cheering erupted in the waiting room, teammates rushing to embrace each other. Happy used the opportunity to give Charle a brief hug. She huffed in annoyance but did not shake him off. "I'll allow it this time, Tom-cat." Natsu and Gray clasped hands, grinning at each other in celebration.

"Thank you," Lucy said, bowing towards Wendy and the lacrima wizard.

"Um," Wendy tried to formulate a response, embarrassment tinting her cheeks red.

"We actually didn't do that much," the specialist stated, "It was the strangest thing. I've never seen anything like it before. The girl, though unconscious, started channelling the energy from the lacrima into her armour. It reduced in size and we were able to pop it right out." She held out her hand, the offensive article lying in the centre of her open palm. "Your friend here, then healed her fractures. The girl lost a lot of magical energy, so she should be asleep for a few days. Here, I'd hold onto this for a while if I were you." She tossed the shrunken lacrima to Lucy.

"Can we see her?" Happy asked. The specialist nodded and led the way.

The group crowded into the recovery room. Erza was already awake, sitting up in bed and wearing her Heart Kreuz Armour. The doctor stared at her, gobsmacked. "How? You shouldn't even have the energy to open your eyes right now!"

"As expected from Erza!" Natsu exclaimed.

Erza bowed her head. "I caused a lot of trouble, it seems. Especially to you, Wendy. I am sorry."

"Don't forget Gray and Lucy too!" Happy chimed in.

"I'm sorry. Sorry to make you all worry."

Gray walked over to the bed. "Don't say stupid things, idiot." The words were out of his mouth before he realised what was happening. His eyes widened in shock. Had he just called Erza an idiot? He braced himself for a blow but it never came. He dared to meet her eyes and found she was giving him a soft smile. Emboldened by her lack of irritation, he rapped her armoured shoulder and continued in an imperious tone, "Don't overexert yourself. Now, take this off and get some rest."

Her lips twisted as though she was holding back a laugh. "Don't push it."

Nevertheless, she did as he said, drawing the covers around her and falling into a heavy, dreamless sleep.

* * *

The whispers rustled through the town square. "Psst! Psst! Psst!" Groups of people had gathered on the edges of the plaza, staring at the group and talking amongst themselves. Some were even trying to surreptitiously take pictures with their lacrima cameras.

"What the hell is going on?" Lucy exclaimed, nearly tearing her hair out. She felt like a zoo animal, the way the townsfolk were gawping at her. They were sitting at an outdoor café, partaking of a light breakfast.

"Maybe it's your outfit," Natsu replied plainly.

"Wha-? What's wrong with my outfit! I paid two months' rent for it!"

"Hmm. Maybe people from Ishgar are not common here?" Erza wondered aloud, ignoring their bickering. She took another bite of her strawberry cake.

The crowd was growing bigger, but still keeping a distance from the group. The edges of the circle undulated, as though any minute one brave individual would venture forth and break the invisible dam, allowing the throng to flood in. The wind picked up for a minute, causing Erza's fringe to flutter up, revealing her bandaged eye to everyone. The whispers grew louder. Finally, a man stepped out of the crowd, walking toward them with a notepad and pen in hand.

"Huh?" Gray cocked his head in surprise. The man was trembling but the look in his eye was excited, fanatic even.

"Erkis-sama! Can I have your autograph?" He bowed low and offered Erza the notepad. Bemused by his actions, Erza instinctively reached for the offering. The crowd went wild. They surged forward, flocking around the group and demanding their attention.

"Glen-san! Glen-san! Over here! Kyaaa!"

"OH MY GOD IT REALLY IS NAKKU! MY ANGEL! WAIT TILL ALL MY FANCAM SUBSCRIBERS SEE THIS!"

"Wendeel-tan! Please do a kawaii heart pose!"

"Erkis-san is so cool!"

"W-wait! I'm not Erkis!"

"What the hell, how can you ask me to strip?!"

"Everyone! We have to get out of here!" Charle shouted.

The frenzied crowd swarmed over them, overzealous hands reaching and grabbing for the their shirts, arms, anything they could get a hold of. The group ducked down to the ground. Luckily, the crowd above them was too rowdy to notice. Crouching low, they began to run. Erza hesitated and looked longing towards her unfinished plate. A strong arm closed her around the waist and pulled her along. "Let's go Erza!" Gray commanded.

"B-but my cake!" Grief-stricken sobs racked her body as she was swiftly pulled out of the crowd.

They were nearly out of the mob when a hooded figure stepped into their path. "Hurry! This way!" it cried, before running into a side-street. Seeing no choice but to follow, the group ran after it. Someone at the edge of the crowd noticed the group's escape.

"Hey! They're getting away!"

The hooded figure led them through a maze of alleyways, the crazed townsfolk in hot pursuit. Eventually, the group took one turn too many, too fast for the others and lost their tail. "What's going on?" Natsu panted. "Who are you?"

The mysterious figure took a furtive look around its surrounding before throwing back its hood. Team Natsu's jaws dropped as they stared. A familiar-looking red haired girl stared back at them. She pushed her glasses up her face nervously.

"It's another Erza!" Happy exclaimed, his paw shaking as he pointed towards her.

"AAAAAH! There are two Erzas! What's this? Some kind of monster tournament? The world is going to end!"

"Won't shut up and can't calm down, that's our Natsu," Gray smirked.

Erza raised a hand to her chin and examined the other girl, disappearing from view and reappearing at her sides, back and front. She stopped, her nose almost to the fabric that strained across the other girl's ample chest. "The resemblance really is quite uncanny."

The girl blushed and reached a hand into her satchel, withdrawing some more cloaks. "Please put these on so that you won't be recognised. We have to get going."

The scratchy wool of the shapeless brown garment rasped as Lucy put it on. "Where are we going?"

"Why, to the guild of course!"

* * *

Two bronze fairies danced around a glittering mirrored ball; the statuettes revolving slowly over two splayed bronze hands, the long nails of which glittered in the midday sun. A wooden sign emblazoned with the words 'Fairy Nail' stood proudly below it.

"Welcome to the talent guild, Fairy Nail." The girl gestured towards herself. "My name is Erkis."

"Fairy Nail?" Lucy echoed, aghast.

"Talent guild?" Wendy asked.

"A guild of singers, models and of course, actors. You people bear a striking resemblance to some of the members of our guild, that's why you were mobbed before. You will be safe inside the guildhall."

"Cool!" Natsu looked excited. Lucy sweatdropped. "I've got a bad feeling about this," she mumbled.

Erkis gave them a quick tour of the guild. She pointed to a pink-haired man wearing a spangled spandex jumpsuit. "That's Nakku, our top star."

"It's me all of a sudden!" Natsu gawked as his doppelganger stood up and demanded his manager's presence. A busty blonde ran into the room, a notebook in hand.

"That's his manager Lucia," Erkis explained. Lucy watched in horror as the rock-star terrorised his manager, lambasting her over some mistake or the other.

"He's a pretty big asshole isn't he?" Gray grinned mischievously.

"Can you please not bully me so much?" Lucy hissed at a speechless Natsu.

"Ah! Gray's here too!" Wendy pointed towards a man in a stylish three piece suit.

"That's Glen, he's a pole dancer."

"Tch, how can he strip in front of people?" Gray's cheeks were pink.

"You're one to talk!" Lucy retorted.

"The act of displaying your naked body is just another form of art. Take a look at Juvina there," Erkis indicated a blue-haired woman wearing a low-cut bustle dress. "She is a topless dancer."

Gray clapped his hands to his cheeks. "Ju-bin!"

Lucy smacked a drooling Natsu across the back of his head. "Don't imagine it, you pervert!"

Erkis pointed towards a table at the back of the guildhall. "That there is Wendeel, a genius child actress and her best friend Charlotte, a famous idol." The two girls were the spitting images of Wendy and Charle's human form. "Ah, and here come their cats, Bappy and Vivi."

"I'm just a cat?!" Happy yelled angrily.

"Crazy," Natsu muttered.

"It's amazing how closely they all match," whispered Lucy.

"This is just like in Edolas, isn't it Gray-san?"

"Mira wasn't any different there either," Gray pondered, his gaze landing on the smiling silver-haired barmaid of Fairy Nail.

"So Erkis," Erza turned towards her lookalike, "what do you do?"

"I'm a stage actress."

"You must be really popular!" Happy said.

"The people in town were really excited to see you." Charle nodded her head in approval.

Erkis looked away self-consciously. "The truth is, I'm not quite there yet. This next role I have, I'm not quite sure how to express it."

Erza gave her a confident thumbs-up. "Let's talk it over. I have some knowledge of acting."

"HUH?" Gray and Lucy exchanged fearful looks, their minds travelling back to two unfortunate characters named Frederick and Yanderica. "You don't know anything," they muttered in unison.

"The role is of a young girl's first relationship, but I…" she broke off, embarrassed. "I don't have any experience of falling in love."

"Love?" Erza repeated dumbly.

The group were distracted by a loud noise. Across the room, Nakku had slammed his hand on the wall next to Lucia's head. "I said I don't want to perform at such a low-level festival! You're coming with me for a bit of punishment." He grabbed her by the hand and dragged her off. She did not resist, instead a smile broke out on her face.

"Grrr, I can't take him anymore," Lucy growled, having failed to notice the eager look on Lucia's face, "how dare he bully me like this!" She stormed off after the couple.

"Uh, um, y-you probably shouldn't," Erkis stammered.

Lucy returned seconds later, her cheeks and ears flaming red. "What happened, Lucy?" Natsu questioned worriedly, before his ears perked up. Was that-? The distinctive sounds of moaning drifted into his sensitive ears. "Oh yes, Nakku, yes. Right there. That feels so good." Blood rushed to his face and he suddenly found he could not meet Lucy's eyes.

Wendy clamped her hands to her ears, her face the picture of mortification. Gray looked at her in surprise. His normal, human ears had not picked up anything. "What's wrong?"

"Despite how it looks, they are..." Erkis floundered for a suitable word, "erm, intimate. It doesn't matter if they're in the guild, they still sometimes-"

"You don't have to finish that thought!" Lucy wailed.

"That's one aspect of a relationship. I understand that there are many aspects to it, love, companionship, trust, ahem… that." She raised her eyebrows meaningfully.

"But you've never experienced it yourself, so you don't really get it, right? We have a bit of time before we have to leave for our next destination, so if you don't mind we can talk a bit."

"Not like you've got much experience either…" Gray teased, but not loud enough for her to hear. He did value his life after all.

Lucy smirked deviously. "You don't either Gray."

"Neither do you, Lucy," Happy reminded her.

Charle puffed out an affable breath. "I guess all of us are unfamiliar with affairs of love."

* * *

The sun was beginning its descent toward the horizon when the group left Tekka, their automobile rumbling noisily over the landscape. Natsu ran his hands over the newly installed motion-sickness lacrima on the dashboard. "Woah, this invention is great! Thanks Erza!"

Erza smiled from her seat in the back. She had picked the item up from the doctor who had treated her. It had been expensive, but her depth perception was not at a hundred percent yet and it was unfair to let Lucy and Gray shoulder the burden of chauffeuring them around. "Do not thank me just yet, you're going to have to learn to drive."

"Oh nuts."

Lucy laughed from her place in the driver's seat. Spending the afternoon in the company of their doppelgangers had put her in mind of Edolas. Edo-Natsu had been a great driver. She wondered idly if Natsu would be the same. Somehow, she doubted it.

"The members of Fairy Nail are really interesting, aren't they?" Wendy said.

"Oh man, don't remind me." Lucy was still traumatised by the scene she had walked in on.

"Erza-san, what were you and Erkis talking about? You two were together the entire time."

"Oh just, love and other stuff." Erza tried to play off her embarrassment.

Gray met her eyes over Wendy's head. "Love huh?" he said knowingly.

The beginnings of a blush stole up her neck. Gray could always see right through her. She looked out the window at the fields rolling by, her hand creeping up to finger the bandage on her eye. "Yes," she whispered wistfully. "Love."


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group meets the third Guardian. NaLu find themselves in a steamy situation (alas, no lemons). Erza comes to a realisation.

The figure fingered the chenille edge of the bedspread, its sharp manicured nails a threat to the fabric. 'Yes,' it thought, 'she was here. They were here.'

Glittering eyes scrutinised the room, looking for something indefinite. The ribbon of its tongue flickered out from between parted lips. There had to be something. The bedding had been changed since then, but there was more to a room than a bed. The spartan furnishings stared boldly back at it, proclaiming a complete lack of secrets. The figure smiled. Everyone had secrets. Even a room.

It stepped lightly, twirling across the room to an unheard rhythm. Step, two, three, four. Step, two- aha. There it was. Triumph danced across its face as it stooped to retrieve the small scrap of lace, its embroidered edges still folded daintily into a perfect square. There was no escape for them now. Master would be pleased.

"May I help you?" a voice called from the door. A woman wearing a long leather apron stood there expectantly.

The figure quietly slipped its hands into its pockets. "Would that you could," it leaned in, its voice seductively low. Pleasure flashed across its face as the woman reacted predictably. It left her there, collapsed on the floor, staring speechlessly through unseeing eyes.

* * *

It was hot. Oppressively so. The thick fug of humidity was making it hard to breathe. Her shirt stuck to her back, drenched in sweat. "These boots were new!" Lucy complained, as she waded forward with her comrades. The mud from the creek squelched noisily under her feet. From the brackish water rose hundreds of mangroves, their stilted roots giving the appearance of a fence along the riverbank.

A pipit trilled from the trees, its loud call echoing over the swamp. "Everyone, watch where you put your feet," Erza instructed from her position at the head of the party, her jaunty cowboy hat at odds with the bikini she wore.

"Feet? We're in up to our knees here. It feels gross," Lucy replied.

"I can't even reach the ground with my feet!" Happy said. He struggled to stay afloat, swimming being an activity he was unaccustomed to. Charle gave him a disdainful look from her position high up on Wendy's shoulders. She sniffed loudly and adjusted her khaki safari outfit. Morons would be morons.

As if he could hear her thoughts, Happy suddenly sprang out of the water and unfurled his wings. He shimmied them forcefully to rid them of moisture. The droplets drenched Gray, who had been standing beside him. "Hey! Watch what you're doing!"

Atop his shoulders, Wendy protected herself and Charle from the spray by conjuring up a small gust of wind.

Something cold and slimy tickled the back of Lucy's thigh. A fat leech had latched onto her, its body undulating imperceptibly as it drank. Further down her legs she could see another. And yet another. "Leeches! They're sucking! They're sucking!"

Natsu watched as Lucy lifted the hem of her tank top, the leeches having found their way up her body. One of them sucked hungrily at the underside of her breast and for the first time in his life Natsu found himself feeling jealous. Of a leech. Oh how the mighty had fallen.

Happy looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "Eroi," he said smugly.

"Don't just stand there! Get it off!"

Natsu's cheeks flamed as his mind flashed back to the scene he had overheard between their Fairy Nail doppelgangers. That Lucy had said something similar too. Only in a far more sultry fashion. A vision of him doing something similar with his Lucy flashed unbidden into his mind and his eyes glazed over.

"Um Natsu-san, maybe you should help her," Wendy suggested.

"Yeah, even though it would be a shame to do so," Gray added.

Natsu narrowed his eyes at the expression on Gray's face. That frigid bastard! He was checking Lucy out! He schooled his features into studied nonchalance and stepped forward to block his view. "It can't be helped, guess I'll get rid of them."

"I can't take it anymore, get it off, Natsu!"

'Get me off, Natsu!' The words rearranged themselves in his mind and he forced himself to slam that door shut. He had gone three years without letting such thoughts overpower him, but one overheard conversation and he was acting like a pubescent teenager again.

Lucy stilled as warm hands settled on her waist. "Stop wriggling," Natsu instructed, his voice strained. He was looking somewhere over her shoulder, studiously avoiding her eyes. The calluses on his battle-worn hands were rough against her naked skin. Heat suffused her cheeks and an unknown emotion pooled low in her belly. What was this feeling? She wanted to draw Natsu closer to her. She flicked her eyes over his shoulder to the others. The party had moved on upriver, out of earshot and almost out of sight. They were alone. Her heart raced, thudding loudly in her ears. Shit. Could Natsu hear? He glanced at her then, his eyes unreadable. Oh God, he could.

Her tongue darted out to moisten lips that had suddenly gone dry. His eyes followed the motion, pausing briefly upon her lips before dipping further, tracing the column of her neck, the starkness of her collarbones and lower still. She took a deep breath and his gaze grew darker, captivated by the rise and fall of her breasts. In an odd contrast, she cursed herself for not wearing a bra, while simultaneously thanking the heavens that she never did.

Natsu's eyes stroked her, sending little flares of pleasure shivering up her nerves. It was intoxicating. He was intoxicating. His gaze shifted upwards, settling on her eyes. He cleared his throat. "The leeches," he said gruffly.

His palms were searing her skin and yet, despite the sweltering heat around her, she wanted more. Her body moved of its own accord, her mind devoid of conscious thought. She stepped closer to him, their bodies almost touching. "Yes," she murmured. "The leeches."

He drew in a sharp breath as she placed her hands upon his. She drew his hands along her skin slowly, coming to a stop at the curve of her breast. "There's the first one," she whispered. His pulse beat palpably in his neck and his Adam's apple bobbed wildly as he swallowed. A thrill of lust, of power, quivered through her. She was doing this to him. She was making him react this way.

A quiet gasp escaped her lips as a flame flickered onto his finger, gently tracing the contour of her breast. The leech detached itself with a quiet pop and fell to the water below them.

"Got it," he said hoarsely, his eyes never leaving hers. "Where next?"

Lucy guided his hands over her body, along her sides, up her back and finally down her thighs. He leaned into her, his arms stretching to tickle the backs of her knees. They were both breathing heavily by then, their breath mingling then fading into the muggy air. Slowly, almost painfully so, he trailed his hands up the backs of her legs. Her breath hitched as his flaming finger slipped under the hem of her booty shorts, grazing the crease where her thigh met her buttocks. "I think that's the last one," he said softly. But he did not move away.

He was so close, his nose was almost brushing hers. His eyes were as opaque as obsidian, but the want in them was clear. Her hands reached up and fisted themselves into the open neck of his shirt. She found her lips inching closer to his, the haze of desire settling over her mind.

"What's taking you so long?" Happy asked curiously, popping into the air above them.

"Kyaa!" Lucy sprang away from Natsu, her face crimson. "Get away from me, you pervert!" she yelled, kicking him in the face for good measure.

"What did I do?" he asked tonelessly, a red mark appearing on his cheek.

Happy smirked impishly as he flew away. "They're in l-l-l-l-love!" he declared, stifling his laughter.

* * *

As he trudged forward, leaving Natsu and Lucy behind, Gray wondered if Erza would kill him if he froze the river. Probably not, given the stifling temperature. He sighed wearily, it was his fault they were here. Completely out of leads after their adventure in the Conturbatus Forest, Erza had suggested returning to Bauxia to collect more information. Faced with the prospect of a filthy tent, a lack of indoor plumbing and working 12 hour shifts at a hole-in-the-wall diner while overexcited fangirls vied for his attention, he had blurted out the rumour he had heard about disturbances in the forests of western Giltena. Now he regretted his haste. Surely, even unpeeling teenage limpets from his person would be better than traipsing through a bog in this blistering heat? He sighed loudly.

"What's wrong Gray-san?" asked Wendy.

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

"The heat is getting to all of us." Charle daintily wiped her forehead with a lace handkerchief.

That was an understatement. Sweat soaked the hair at the back of his neck, trickling between his shoulder blades, running down his back and between his butt cheeks. He was hot. And uncomfortable. There was sweat oozing from places he was not even aware could sweat. "How much further?"

"I don't know," replied Erza.

"Where are we going anyway, Erza?" Happy asked.

"No idea." Erza shrugged.

All four of them sweatdropped. It was just like Erza to lead the way confidently even though she did not know where to go.

"I wonder what's keeping Natsu and Lucy," Erza wondered, stooping to examine a broken mangrove root. "Something came this way earlier."

"I'll go check on them!" Happy volunteered. He had a sly feeling he was about to see something interesting.

"Hey, Erza. Hold on a minute! Shouldn't we consult a map or something?" They could be wandering around for hours if they did not have a plan.

"The other two Guardians were abnormally large. Such a huge creature should not be able to disguise its tracks easily," she explained. Suddenly, her head whipped towards the trees. "Watch out!"

Branches cracked and leaves fluttered to the ground. Something was crashing through the forest, coming right at Gray. Charle swiftly grabbed Wendy by the shoulders and lifted her to safety.

Hurtling out of the woods came chittering macaque. It latched onto Gray with hairy arms, swinging a few times around his body before coming to a stop. It peered out from behind his back, its arms clenched around Gray's shoulders in fright.

"A monkey?"

The monkey was shrieking, its high-pitched calls deafening Gray. Angry squawking could be heard from the trees as another, much larger monkey appeared, in obvious pursuit of the first.

Gray automatically brought his hands before him, his desire to protect too deeply ingrained. "Ice Make: Hammer!"

The big monkey squeaked. The transparent object heading towards it was cold! "Kee!" it screamed before turning tail and running away.

Natsu and Lucy came running up to the group, just then. Their flushed faces going unnoticed by the others. "Don't go using such a big hammer on animals, you wasteful bastard!" Natsu shouted.

"I'm not the one who always goes overboard you ash-faced jerk!"

"Erza, do something about these two, they-" Lucy trailed off as she noticed a flaming aura around Erza.

Erza turned baleful eyes to Lucy. "Why won't the animals come near me?"

"Erza's on fire. Scary!" Happy commented.

"Why do I feel like this is déjà vu?" Charle asked, exasperated.

Gray turned to the monkey. "It's OK now, so get off." The monkey clambered around to his front, its arms still wrapped tightly around his neck. "Keekee!" it screeched, its eyes becoming heart shaped.

"These eyes… somehow they feel familiar," Gray said, unnerved. The macaque smacked its lips and began running its fingers through Gray's hair, grooming him.

"It's fallen for Gray," Happy whispered to Natsu in an aside. Both of them shook with laughter, doubling over when Gray began trying to wrestle the macaque away from him.

"Huh? Below?" Erza looked down at the water. An ominous shadow was stirring under the surface. A crocodile burst from the waters, jaws snapping at her. "Requip!"

"Not another animal!" Lucy wailed, "At this rate we're never going to find the Guardian Spirit!"

"Keekee?" The monkey turned towards Lucy, almost seeming to understand what she was saying. It chirped loudly and turned back to Gray, tightening its hold on his neck before swooping in for a kiss. Gray dodged out of range in the nick of time. "Not this time!" he yelled. He used his magic to freeze the monkey's arms, before slipping out of the loop they had created around his neck. Gritting his teeth, he swung hard, flinging the monkey as far away from him as possible.

"Keekee! Kee!" the monkey protested angrily, before turning away from the group and presenting its hindquarters to Gray. It smacked its lips a few more times, the expression on its face almost lascivious. 'Thwack!' It spanked itself hard before waggling its reddened buttocks at Gray. Satisfied, it blew him a kiss before scampering away.

Natsu, Lucy and Happy collapsed with laughter as Gray stood there frozen, his face white with horror. "Wh-what the hell was that?"

The air around Erza glowed as she stowed her swords. Her left leg was perched high on a small mountain of dazed crocodiles, piled upside down, one on top of the other. "That, Gray," she said solemnly, "is a present of love."

* * *

Dragonflies fluttered around the clearing on translucent orange wings, their quiet buzzing a contrast to the shrill chirping of crickets that rose from the night-time beyond the reach of the campfire.

A figure watched from the shadows, taking in the forms of the humans as they lay prone under their blankets. A low hum rumbled through its chest.

With a softness that belied its powerful limbs, it padded slowly across the grass, picking its way through the sleeping forms. Its curious pink nose found its way to scaly dragon hide, taking in the scent of something once known but long since forgotten.

Natsu's eyes opened. "Who are you?"

Its whiskers twitched as the others rose behind it. Not asleep, but expectant. Their blankets hiding bodies that were dressed for battle.

With a sniff it straightened. "I heard you were looking for me." It inclined its head and from the trees came a familiar high-pitched squawk. It made Gray's blood run cold.

"Don't worry," the Tiger reassured him, "we had a little chat about consent. It won't try to molest you again." The Tiger smiled at them all, revealing a mouth full of sharply pointed teeth. The group tensed and Erza found herself reaching for her sword.

Suddenly, the Guardian guffawed. "You should see your faces!" it said, shoulders shaking with laughter. "You look so serious! Relax, I'm not going to fight you. That would be so cliché."

Charle gave a brief sideward glance. "More like not fighting us is the cliché."

"You want the Key? Your Task is simple," the Tiger spread its arms wide, "Make me a celebrity!"

* * *

"Huh?" Lucy and Happy chorused, "Make you a celebrity?"

"Yoss! That sounds simple enough. Let's get started." Erza said.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Gray interrupted, "Doesn't one normally need a talent to become a celebrity?"

"That's right!" Happy tapped his paw with his fist.

"So Furry-chan, what's your talent?" Natsu asked.

"Don't go around giving people random nicknames!" Lucy scolded. Natsu turned to look at her and she immediately turned away, blushing furiously.

The Tiger twirled around and struck a dramatic pose. "I- to be honest, I hadn't thought beyond the adoration of my fans," she admitted sheepishly.

The group sweatdropped. Erza clapped her hands together. "We can do a play! Tour the continent!"

Gray coughed discreetly, "Maybe something more short-term. I know it's the 100 Years Quest, but that doesn't mean we need to take a hundred years to achieve it."

"I can't act, but I can sing a bit," the Tiger said. Erza looked crestfallen.

"Wasn't Nakku-san from Fairy Nail a singer?" Wendy wondered, "Maybe we can ask Fairy Nail for help!"

"Fairy Nail only accepts the top talent," Charle sniffed. "If you make it into the guild, you're guaranteed to become a celebrity."

"That decides it then." Erza clapped her hands. "Tomorrow we head to Fairy Nail!"

"It should probably practice a bit if it's going to successfully audition," Natsu said.

"Excuse me, did you just call me 'it?'" The Tiger raised a cool eyebrow. "I'm obviously a she." It smoothed its paws down its luxurious coat before striking a sultry pose. "Wait, have you been calling my comrades 'it?'"

The Fairy Tail wizards exchanged embarrassed looks. "We- uh, we just kinda assumed," offered Lucy.

The Tiger sighed. "Don't assume, just ask. It's far more respectful to just ask."

Natsu nodded. "OK. She should probably practice a bit if she's going to successfully audition."

"Yeah, and she'll need some clothes as well," Gray added.

"And a song! She needs a great song! I wonder if she plays any instruments."

A stressmark appeared on the Tiger's head. "It's also more respectful to not talk about a person like they're not standing right there!" She delivered punches to both their heads.

"She's stealing your character, Erza," Happy remarked.

Erza fell to her knees, an aura of depression surrounding her. "There, there, Erza-san, cheer up." Wendy patted her shoulder.

Lucy and Charle exchanged weary looks. "This is going to be a disaster."

* * *

The rain was sheeting down. There was no escaping it. The short moments it had taken for Gray to Make an umbrella were enough to leave them soaked. Fat lot of help the umbrella was anyway, the wind was blowing the rain everywhere. The only direction in which it did not seem to be coming was from the ground.

"Hurry, there's a cave up through the trees a little way off from here," the Guardian said, springing through the forest surefootedly.

They had been training with the Guardian for over a week, working on her singing, dancing and overall presentation. It had been brutal, especially when Erza had revealed that she had taken some guitar lessons from Gajeel and then insisted on serenading them with a rendition of 'Best Friend.' Gray had thought the Guardian was going to give them the Key on the spot, just to end the torture. 'Still,' thought Gray as he sidestepped a torrent dripping from the branch overhead, 'at least the bunny costume was cute.'

Charle had taken command of the operation, issuing orders like a terrifying military sergeant. Even Erza had complied readily after Charle revealed she had used her clairvoyance to see the most efficient path forward. Gray suspected she was lying, but did not voice his doubts. After all, without her autocratic approach, he was sure the 'training' would have devolved into the usual tomfoolery. That, and there had been nothing much for him to do, except watch and laugh at the others.

"Keekee," chittered the small form clinging to his front.

Ah yes, watch, laugh and be groomed by his new friend. The monkey had returned on the second day, contrite, and Gray, being the secret softie that he was, had accepted her apology. The two had developed an easy friendship. The monkey, cleaning microscopic dirt from Gray's hair and Gray, trying not to be openly disgusted when she ate it.

"Met's love, met's love forever," hummed Happy as he drifted past. That damn song was too catchy. He could practically sing it in his sleep now, the number of times he had heard it this week. Charle had forced Wendy to give the Tiger lessons on stage presence. So far it seemed to involve wagging one's finger at the audience and winking. Gray was not sure if the scary-looking Guardian Tiger could actually pull off kawaii, but it was fun to watch. Especially because every time Wendy sang, Natsu burst into tears and started muttering about 'setting her back on the right path.'

The mouth of the cave was screened by a cascade of water, a result of the ongoing downpour. A glance at the sky revealed no hope of it letting up anytime soon. The rain itself had been warm, but now that they were indoors, the chill was setting into their bones. Lucy gave an ominous sneeze and when Happy and Charle followed suit, Wendy thought it best to pre-empt a cold with a hot soup. She asked Natsu to make up a fire and requested the Tiger's assistance in foraging. She hoped her superior knowledge of the terrain would help.

"What can I do, Wendy?" Erza asked.

"Oh no, Erza-san, your bandage is soaked! I should change it before I go," Wendy replied. Dirt caked the gauze on Erza's eye.

"Don't worry about it Wendy, I've got it," Gray said. Lucy and the others were beginning to develop a fever. Wendy could have healed them with her magic, but she was tired after a day of performing and Gray thought it best for her to not strain herself.

She gave him a grateful nod and set off. "Come on," Gray said to Erza, leading her over to the fire. She perched on a rolled up sleeping bag. His wet trousers squelched as he knelt before her. "This would be easier if we had a change of clothes, don't you think?"

"You're the ones who insisted I leave my luggage in the car. I had a clothes rack in it," Erza grumbled. She was getting over her reluctance to show the others her injury, but changing her bandage was an unpleasant task. It had grossed her out the one time she had seen Wendy do it in the mirror. She did not want to see that kind of revulsion on Gray's face.

"Oi Natsu, could I have some boiling rags please?" Gray called.

Natsu pulled some bandages from Wendy's bag and dumped them in a bowl of water. A muttered spell later, the steaming bowl was placed next to Gray. Natsu immediately returned to Lucy's side.

"That was… abrupt."

"He's worried about Lucy," Erza said.

"Is it just me or have those two been acting weird all week?" Gray asked.

"If you mean the fact that they can't seem to maintain eye contact for longer than two seconds, then no, it's not just you." They exchanged knowing glances and smirked.

Gray carefully unwrapped the sodden bandage around Erza's eye. She stiffened as the last layer of fabric came off. Gray used his magic to conjure up a pair of ice-tweezers to remove the dressing from inside her eye socket.

"It think it's healed enough now. You can probably go back to the eyepatch." He added the slip of cloth to the bowl to disinfect it.

Erza gave him a searching look.

"What?" he asked, feeling oddly defensive.

"You're not repulsed?" There was a gaping hole in her face after all.

He chuckled as he cleaned the dried pus off her eyelids with a warm, damp rag. "Trust me Erza, after the way it looked last week, this is almost a welcome sight."

She gave him a wan smile. His gentleness was throwing her off. She was used to taking care of people, not being cared for. "You forgot to put the bandages to dry."

"Ah, but I have special technique for that. Watch this." He plucked a boiled bandage with his tweezers. Ice formed over the fabric. He flicked the tweezers smartly, as though they were a magic wand. The ice sublimated, leaving behind a perfectly dry bandage. "I call it freeze drying," he said proudly.

"And yet you walk around in wet clothes."

Gray face faulted. "Right, yes," he coughed, regaining his composure. He dried off his pants and then touched a finger to Erza's skirt. "May I?"

"Sure."

Gray looked up to see laughter dancing in her good eye. He blushed and looked away. He picked another bandage from the water and dried it, carefully rolling it up without touching it with his bare hands. Erza started as the cold wad of dressing entered her eye socket.

"Too cold?" he asked.

"No. Just surprising. And weird. One doesn't really expect to experience tangible sensations from their eye socket."

"Hmm, maybe when we're back in Tekka we can see about fitting you with an artificial eye."

"It's fine, we've wasted too much time on this injury," she said the word as though it left a bad taste in her mouth, "as it is. We need to stay on mission."

"No point staying on mission if your depth perception is not at 100%."

Erza requipped a sword a hair's breadth away from Gray's neck. "I think it's getting there."

Gray suppressed a smile and pushed the sword away with a finger. It shimmered as it disappeared. He settled back on his haunches. "Fine then, forget the mission. Do it for your happiness."

Surprise flashed across her face. She looked away, choosing to focus on the shifting patterns of the campfire.

Gray eyed her critically, reading her answer in the set of her jaw before she could voice it. "Your happiness is always important, Erza."

She still could not bring herself to meet his eyes. She knew deep down that he was right. She wanted to find a replacement. Wanted to stop wearing that wretched eyepatch. And yet, she wanted to continue punishing herself. Torturing herself over something that was not her fault. Was no one's fault. She was so tired of her feelings, of reiterating the same things over and over. She was stuck in an emotional rut and did not know how to get out of it. The last time she had felt this way she had fled the continent. But the feelings had chased her over the water to Giltena. How could one avoid a trigger when the trigger was on their own face?

She took a deep shuddering breath. "My memories are stuck in a loop," she confided. "The Tower of Heaven. The beatings. How I lost my eye. How I lost Jellal." Her voice cracked. "Every time I think we can leave the past behind and move forward… it's like a bad Jewel. It keeps turning up." The words were coming in a rush now. It was such a relief to finally voice the thoughts that had been plaguing her for the past year. "First the Tower, then the Magic Council took him away, then there was Kagura's desire for revenge, I just- I thought with Zeref gone it would finally be OK. We would be free. But his face when he saw me with… this." Her hand touched the edge of her eye. "It seems even with the spectre of Zeref no longer looming over us, we are still being haunted."

Gray cleared his throat. He was discomfited by her sudden admission. He opened his mouth, hoping that if he did so the words would materialise and spontaneously speak themselves. But no words came. He shut his mouth, feeling foolish.

Erza was still looking at the fire. He felt that maybe the confession had been more for her benefit than his. As though by speaking the words that had been rattling around in her brain, she could rid her mind of confusion; solidify the wisps of emotion she had not dared to look in the face. A resolute expression fixed itself on her face. "You can move on, but you cannot make the world move with you," she said with some finality.

Gray leaned across her line of vision to pick up the eyepatch. Erza started, as though she had all but forgotten his presence. He smoothed the wrinkled fabric between his hands, freeze drying it in the process.

"You were wearing one of these the first time we met. When you first walked into Fairy Tail. You looked ferocious. Like an angry pirate. It drove me nuts. You were so mysterious." He looked up at her and smiled. "You were wearing one all those times you beat me up. When we first became friends. When I see this," he gently looped the fabric across her head and knotted it in place, "when I see this, it reminds me of that time, and I am filled with-"

"Nostalgia?"

He shook his head. "Hope." He adjusted the angle of the eyepatch. "Because if that tattered, dirty scrap of cloth could make a future this beautiful, then how beautiful will the next one be?"

"That's very wise of you Gray."

Gray folded his hands behind his head and leaned back against the rolled up sleeping bag. "Of course, what else do you expect from the Great Gray?" he said pompously.

A sticky cloth flew across the cave and landed on his face. "What the hell Natsu! Don't throw Lucy's used handkerchief on my face!"

"You saying Lucy has germs, you clammy rat?"

"Of course she does, you slithering bastard! Not everyone has weird dragon immunity like you!"

Lucy looked towards Erza, hoping she would put a stop to the brawl before it got out of hand. She stiffened in shock at what she saw. "Say Happy," she said, "is Erza… giggling?"

* * *

The ship creaked into the port at Elmina. Its arrival went unremarked by the denizens of the town; its cargo unremarkable. They might have had something to say if they had seen its sole passenger step onto the docks. He cut a striking figure, there amongst the crates and barrels, tall and broad shouldered. He radiated coiled up danger. The stench of raw fish permeated the air, but it rolled off him; his magical energy too great for him to be tainted.

The sea breeze lifted, ruffling hair above a face that was unused to smiling. He set his sights on the road leading out of the town and shouldered his bag. With a determined step, he set off; melting into the crowd of longshoremen as though he had never been there at all.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group returns to Tekka for the Tiger's audition. Gray makes a startling confession. Unbekownst to our favourite team, unknown forces are stirring. Prepare for angst!

The Tiger snored gently. Her breath rumbling in time to the sound of the engine. Natsu eyed her enviously from his position squashed up against a crate. "I don't see why she gets the entire seat to herself," he grumbled. He tetchily batted a duffel bag by his shoulder and wriggled around to find a more comfortable position.

"Because she needs to rest before her big audition," Erza replied matter-of-factly. She was leaning back against a roll of sleeping bags, her position in the back of the jeep by far the most comfortable.

Lucy looked at her through the pretzel of her legs. As usual, she had the worst position of the three, crammed as she was, into the smallest available corner between teetering mounds of Erza's luggage. "I don't see why I couldn't sit in front. The seat is big enough."

"There are only two airbags in front. Safety is important."

"How is this any safer?"

"Hmm, what was that, Lucy?"

"N-nothing Erza!"

Wendy giggled, her dragon-slayer hearing allowing her to eavesdrop on their bickering. Gray glanced at her curiously, one eye still on the road. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"Nothing really, Gray-san."

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better."

Wendy bit her lip. Avoiding the overcrowded backseat had not been the only reason she had faked motion-sickness that day. There was something she wanted to talk to Gray about. It had surprised her when she realised that she had not mentioned it in the past year, the flurry of battle and the relief of victory having chased it from her mind. This last two weeks, rehashing her Sky Sisters choreography with the Tiger had brought it back. It was hard to think about Cheria without remembering the sacrifice she had made for her, the guilt she would always bear in her heart.

She steeled her nerves. "Gray-san," she said, her voice strong and unwavering. "I need to tell you something."

Gray shifted gears. Wendy sounded serious. He took the speed of the vehicle down from breakneck to brisk and gave her his full attention. The words that came from his lips sent a shiver down his spine.

"It's about Ultear-san."

* * *

The hooded figure slinked through the streets stealthily, its brethren right behind it. It stopped at a corner and peered into the street on the other side. Silently, it signalled its companions forward. Their mission was one of stealth, it would not do to be careless.

The group slipped into a store along the main thoroughfare of the town, executing their mission with the expediency that only a well-oiled team possessed. In unison, they nodded to the first figure, who turned to lead the way to their next destination.

And promptly bumped into a similarly hooded figure exiting a jewellery store.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Natsu yelled, his hood having been pulled off in the collision.

"Huh, Nakku?" the redhead said, pushing her glasses up her nose. Her hood too had fallen over her shoulders. "What are you doing here?"

Erkis glanced up as another one of the hooded individuals stepped forward. "Erkis, how fortunate to run into you. We were just on our way to meet you." Erza's face was barely visible under the cowl.

"Erza!" Erkis said, "How fortunate that you are here! It's a disaster. Everything is a disaster." She sniffed back tears. A few passers-by stopped and stared. Their whispering seemed to shake her from whatever was on her mind. She swiftly pulled up her hood. "We can't talk here. Come, let's go back to the guild."

A few minutes later, Erkis was ushering them into one of the warm greenrooms at Fairy Nail. She set a kettle on the hob before drawing back her hood and sighing gustily.

"So what's the matter?" Erza asked, unbuckling one of the hundred lanyards she had repurposed to strap Gray into his robe.

Erkis raised an eyebrow. "He has a tendency to strip," Lucy explained half-heartedly, helping Erza untie Gray. "We couldn't risk him exposing us by exposing himself."

The actresses nodded absentmindedly, drumming her fingers across the table. She was only half listening. She cast an eye over the group. "You have two new members I see. And where are your cats?"

"We're Exceeds. Not cats," Charle corrected haughtily, throwing off her robe. She was standing on top of Happy's shoulders, the poor blue cat struggling under her weight. Not that he would dare voice such a complaint.

"You can call me Tiger," the Guardian said in a smooth purr, striking a dramatic pose. Erkis would have probably had questions about a talking tiger had her present predicament not been so pressing.

Erza repeated her question. "Erkis. What's the matter?"

Erkis' face crumpled. "Oh Erza-san, it's terrible. Tonight is the opening night of my new play and the diamond necklace that the deuteragonist gives my character is damaged!"

"Oh, is that why you were at the jewellers?" Lucy asked.

"Yes," Erkis nodded, "our stage manager Lizalla took it in for cleaning. Unfortunately, the clasp was damaged in the process. I was trying to see if they could speed up the repair, but alas, there is no hope." She took off her glasses and cleaned them with the edge of her sweater in a nervous gesture. "It's a pivotal scene in the story when the young girl realises she does not want the riches he can offer because she is in love with the hero. If we don't have the necklace, there is no scene!"

"Is that all?" Erza said mildly, a plan forming in her mind as she spoke. "Don't worry, we'll take care of it."

* * *

The maiden stepped across the wooden boards, her long skirts rustling through the silent theatre. The audience sat transfixed, waiting for her to speak. And speak she did. Every twitch of her fan, every tremble of her hand, even every flex of her well-turned ankle spoke volumes. By the time she opened her mouth to utter the first words of her soliloquy, the audience already knew who she was, how she felt. Onstage, Erkis was transformed.

The Tiger watched her, the very picture of a girl in love. Her heart clenched. She knew that feeling well. Up, in the heavens, where the entirety of human existence was but a blink of the Heavenly Emperor's eye; someone waited for her as well. She felt the solid magic pulse of the Key in her pocket. Soon.

As the woman on stage grew more anguished, her memories drifted to a young man, weeping over the body of his lover, knowing they were parted forever. That no amount of magic could ever bring them together again. "Why?" he had turned to her back then, his voice cracking. But she had had nothing to say.

She wondered, had she said spoken, if things would not have turned out the way they did. Her grief had blotted the sense from her mind. She had only watched numbly, as her best friend's body had been carried away by his lover.

There were rumours. Of a palace made of bone, where the young man roamed the halls, driven mad by his grief. Of her comrades, chased into hiding, lest they be next.

She remembered her own terror, when death had knocked on her door and how she had escaped it.

The girl in the seat next to her sniffed, pulling her away from her thoughts. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the boy next to her stiffly pass her a handkerchief. The boy who wore dragon skin about his neck so proudly. It had given her pause at first but her doubts had soon been snuffed out. There was something about these wizards that made her trust them.

She could only hope they would survive what was to come.

* * *

"The necklace looks beautiful, Gray," Erza said.

"I could have done better if I had had more time," he bragged.

Her smile was invisible in the darkened wings of the stage. The bright stage lights caught the ice in Erkis' hand, scattering the light across the floor like a shower of diamonds. Beyond the proscenium, the audience sat captivated, Erkis' performance bringing to life the love in her character's heart with such finesse. Here, on the inside of the fourth wall, the performance was somehow more intimate; the layers richer and more imbued with meaning. It was a privilege to see it.

"For someone who's never been in love, she's doing a remarkable job, don't you think?" Gray leaned in to whisper.

Erza's reply was cut off by a fierce shushing noise. A girl with short, silver hair scribbled on her clipboard and turned it to them. 'NO TALKING IN THE WINGS!' The word 'no' having been underlined thrice. Erza stifled a laugh. Lizalla was so different from the Lisanna they knew. She tilted her head towards the door that lead backstage and Gray followed her out.

It was dark in the corridor outside, with barely enough space for the two of them to stand without touching. Erza leaned against the wall, her leg propped up against it. She crossed her arms over her chest and eyed the boy across her critically. His hands were in his pockets, his posture relaxed.

"What about you?" she asked.

He looked at her quizzically, his expression was barely discernible in the gloom. Had they been carrying on a conversation that he was unaware of?

"Have you ever been in love?"

The sudden question confused him. He cast about for an answer but he did not know what to say. Was not quite sure why she was asking.

"What about Juvia?"

"What  _about_  Juvia?" he replied tersely. His tone bordered on defensive. He knew now, where this was going.

His laconic reply irked her. "You were meant to give her an answer at the Grand Magic Games. That was two years ago. You were meant to give her an answer after our battle with the Alvarez Empire. That was one year ago. From what I can see, you have not given her an answer as yet." The bile rose in her throat and crept into tone. "You're playing with her feelings. Leaving her hanging. It's not fair to her."

Gray blinked slowly. "I can't help but feel this isn't all about Juvia."

Erza flinched. Gray instantly regretted what he said. She was hurt enough as it is. The Erza he had seen in the last few weeks was so different from the Erza he knew. She was coming undone. He saw her posture shift, her shoulders growing hunched and defensive. He knew she was readying herself to apologise when he spoke.

"I don't know." He ran his hands through his hair and sighed. "I don't know! Shouldn't I know by now? It's been over three years. Shouldn't I know by now if I loved her back?"

Erza looked up, surprised. He took a deep breath and continued, "For three years, we've fought together, trained together. Heck, we've even lived together. Shouldn't that be enough? How can I not know after all that?" He stared at the floor, as though committing the lines and grooves in the wood to memory. "Sometimes I think that not knowing is in itself an answer."

"Gray…" she began, but her voice withered in her throat. She was not sure how she would have finished that sentence anyway.

It did not matter. Gray was not really listening. It felt good to finally get this off his chest. "She gave her life for me. And even then, in my anger and grief, all I could think was that her future had been stolen from her. Not  _our_  future, but her future. As though they were separate entities.

"I care for her deeply. That much I do know. But love?" he tailed off, at a loss.

Gray's gaze was still intent upon the floor, as though the whorls in the wood held the answers he was looking for. The silence between them was as turbulent as the look on his face.

"Maybe it is hard to recognise what love feels like when you have not been in love before," she offered weakly.

"I was in love with you when we were kids and it wasn't a problem then."

Erza gasped. Gray's jaw hung open, the confession as much a surprise to him as it had been to her. He wondered if he could somehow suck the words back into his mouth, like Natsu eating flames. Why had he said that? The sound of the audience laughing from the auditorium spilled into the ensuing silence.

"You said it yourself, we were kids," she said firmly, her underlying nervousness concealed from her voice, "It was probably puppy love. Things are different as an adult."

The brush-off hurt more than he had expected. "Really? Didn't you and Jellal start as kids too?"

Erza bristled. "That was different. What Jellal and I shared, what we still share, it is-"

"Doesn't change the fact that he's been free for a year and still hasn't come for you, does it?" he said nastily.

Hurt flashed across Erza's face. He had taken her biggest insecurity and twisted it in her side. Gray briefly considered saying something else. To try and negate what he had said. But he found himself unable to. Not with the mood he suddenly found himself in. He left before he could say anything else he'd regret.

* * *

Later, he wondered if he had felt bitter about this for a long time. That he had been in love with Erza but she had never given him a second glance, she had always been too busy looking at, looking for Jellal. That maybe she had been so hung up on the romantic notion of them being star-crossed lovers that she had never once considered that someone who loved her so desperately stood waiting, right under nose.

He had moved on, he reminded himself, but he supposed the embers of his resentment still burned under his skin. Her casual dismissal of his revelation irritated him more than it should have. He did not love her anymore, that was true, and he had long since accepted that the only thing he would ever receive from her would be rejection. But he had not expected her to belittle his feelings. To dismiss their intensity. 'Puppy love, my arse,' he thought, 'you don't pine after someone for almost eight years because of puppy love.'

He stopped in the middle of the quiet street and sighed. It turned out old wounds still ached sometimes. He would apologise to her when he got back. She had not deserved his cruelty, not when he knew the full extent of her feelings about Jellal.

He would apologise, not because it was the right thing to do, but because not making things right between them would be unbearable. That was what it meant to be nakama, right?

* * *

Memories were trickling into her mind. Seemingly meaningless things that she had long forgotten now took new importance. Gray, age 10, flushing pink when Macao and Wakaba said he had a crush on her. Gray, age 13, stuttering as he handed her a Valentine's card, claiming he found it on the ground; maybe she'd like it because she liked girly things?

The trickle grew to a flood. Flashes of images, whispers of rumours, all rolled together into a whirlwind of chaos. Happy, telling Lucy how Gray had gone berserk against one of the Assassin's Guild in the Tower of Heaven. Gray, on the roof of the automobile as they chased after Lullaby, telling her to slow down or the SE Plug would drain all her magic. Natsu, casually mentioning that Gray had been willing to lay down his life against Racer, so that Erza could be saved. Gray's strong back, so much like Grandpa Rob's, protecting her from Lyon as he tried to chop off her arm. She clenched her fist, there was too much, this was too much. How had she not seen? How had she not realised? Gray, on Galuna Island, looking at her with betrayal in his eyes when she insisted they return to the guild. Gray, finding her the day before her S-Class trial, pretending to pick a fight only to end up wishing her luck. Teenage Mira, whispering about how Gray was going to ask the girl he liked to ride on the Fantasia float with him. He had asked her that year, and she had assumed it was because his crush had turned him down. How could she have been so stupid?

He had loved her. For far longer than he had implied. Like shadows added to a lifeless drawing, her memories were now shaded with new meaning. It made her feel shaky. What else had she missed? Her boots thudded heavily against the cobblestoned streets. She did not know where she was going, only that she had suddenly felt claustrophobic; as though the theatre was too small to contain the cataclysmic shock of Gray's words. She had tried to stop it, to brush his words under the carpet and forget about them, but he had not let her. She felt almost angry with him for it. She could not breathe. She leaned against the low parapet of the bridge she suddenly found herself on, the waters in the river below churning as fast as her thoughts.

He had loved her. For so many years, he had loved her but he had never said. Perhaps it was better that he had not. Her heart could not have loved him back. The guilt would have crushed her. She was grateful for it. But she was angry too. Angry that he did not think he could trust her with his feelings. Angry that he had been right, because what had she done when he had? The thoughts warred in her brain, the paradox of her emotions swirling.

With a frustrated scream she requipped a sword into her hand, slashing at an imagined foe. She stepped into a quinte and thrust, before tossing the sword into her left hand and parrying. The movement was already helping clear her brain. With her usual dangerous grace, she slid into a flèche, disarming her opponent. The familiar movements of the routine calmed her. Like the wind, she whirled around, her sword spinning in a molinet before slicing into an oberhau. The world around her faded away. She poured her feelings into her blade. Shred her turmoil to ribbons. That night, on an empty bridge in southern Tekka, Erza danced with her sword.

At last, she brought the forte of her sword down upon her opponent's skull, banishing them to oblivion along with her conflict. She let the tip of the sword fall, resting it against the ground as she tried to catch her breath. She swept the sweat from her forehead and a determined expression fixed itself onto her face. There was only one thing left to do. With a flick, she stowed her sword and set off towards their hotel.

* * *

Natsu grumbled as he stepped out of Fairy Nail, Lucy slung across one shoulder. "Natsu-san, look at me, I can fly." Wendy stumbled in a circle, her arms at her sides like wings.

"That's not how you fly, stupid. This is!" Charle tapped Happy on the head. He unfurled his wings and took off, drunkenly listing to the side.

"Pfft, rubbish.  _This_  is the only way to fly." The Tiger raised a fist into the air theatrically and jumped. She fell flat on her face.

The others fell over laughing. Natsu scratched his head in irritation. He was the only remotely sober one in the group. A traitorous hiccup made its way up his throat. OK, maybe he was not as sober as he thought.

The booze had flown a bit too freely at the cast party. Too many people had wanted to toast to Erkis' success. Even Happy had fallen. He muttered a curse. Stupid Gray, they were usually in this together. He had been abandoned. 'Well,' he thought to himself, 'at least Erza is not here.' He shuddered to think of the scolding she would have laid on the unsuspecting members of Fairy Nail. She could not even recognise her own guild members when drunk, he could not imagine the horror she would have unleashed on the lookalikes. He hoisted Lucy higher onto his shoulder. She squirmed in his grip, her bum smooshing into his face.

That had been another problem. Drunk Lucy was horny as all hell. Lucy and her doppelganger, Lucia, had drunk up a storm before turning their sex appeal on Natsu and Nakku. He almost believed it had been accidental on Lucy's part. Almost. After their little verging-on-a-tryst in the swamp the week before, he was not quite sure what to think. He tried not to think about it anyway, his body reacted inappropriately to the memory every time it surfaced.

"Fine, maybe I'm a cat that can't fly. But can you do this?" The Tiger slurred, before growing to twenty times her size. She towered over the buildings, her underbelly catching and destroying the tops of some. She flexed her muscles and struck a pose.

"Waaah, stop damaging the town! We're poor enough as it is!" Lucy complained, drumming her fists on Natsu's leg. He reluctantly set her down, her little fists were getting irritating. Big mistake. Lucy's blouse was gaping open. "Hey Natsu," she said, "I'm a cat too. Meow." She batted his cheeks with her balled up fist. Damn it. She was cute. Suddenly, Lucy disappeared from view. He looked down to see she had lain herself at his feet. She wriggled, her lower body lifting off the ground towards him. "I'm a cat, Natsu. Scratch my belly."

The blood drained from his face. He looked around urgently, hoping no one from Fairy Nail could see this. Nakku and Lucy had been pretty enthusiastic about Lucy and him joining them for their night-time activities. Nakku, in particular, had been eager to make love to himself. Natsu did not want to dwell on the screwed up thinking behind that. When Lucy had inadvertently made a joke that was misinterpreted as an acceptance of the invitation, Natsu had put his foot down. Now he was tasked with shepherding this rowdy bunch back to the hotel. He dragged Lucy up from the floor and looked upwards. "Come on, Furry-chan, time to get yourself small again."

The Tiger barely heard him. It had been a long time since she had been this big. The air smelled cleaner up here. She hummed a tune and looked around the town. It was so peaceful at this time of night. Finally, with a sigh, she realised she should probably not cause more trouble for the dragon slayer. "Alright Natsu, I'm coming down," she said, "Huh? Natsu? Where did they go?"

* * *

She was waiting for him on the wide stone steps that lead up from the piazza to the road their hotel was on. "I'm sorry," she said, as he walked up to her.

"What are you sorry for?"

"For not-"

"You didn't owe me anything," he cut her off before she could speak the words. The rejection would sting, even after these years. Besides, he was speaking the truth. "You don't owe me anything."

"Still, I should have at least noticed."

"How? It's not like I proclaimed it from the rooftops."

She winced inwardly. To anyone who had been looking, it had been as if he had done just that. She got to her feet and dusted off her skirt. "Then, at least let me apologise for earlier."

"Only if you'll let me apologise to you. What I said, it was unwarranted."

"It seems that we are at an impasse," she smiled wryly.

He chuckled. The wind picked up, setting the strands of her long red hair dancing to invisible music. "Let's go home, shall we?" he said, walking up the steps.

The words unexpectedly warmed her heart. Yes, home. Not to where the guild was, but to where their nakama were. They would always be their home. He would always be hers.

She reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him. There was so much she wanted to say to him in that moment, but the words choked in her throat. The lump of emotion was too much to swallow. He gently placed his hand upon hers.

"I know," he said simply.

Tears rushed to her eyes and she hurriedly blinked them away. His eyes looked suspiciously moist as well. She nodded at him. "Let's go home."

* * *

"Natsu! Wendy! Lucy!" she said, pushing open the door to the room. The beds that lined the walls were unoccupied.

"Hmm, maybe they're still at the party," Gray said.

"Maybe." Her eyes drifted to the clock on the wall. It was getting late. She hoped they'd be back soon. She stepped onto the balcony and a giant form in the distance caught her attention immediately. It looked suspiciously cat-like. "Hey Gray," she called back into the room, "There's something weird going on."

When no response came, she returned indoors. "Gray?" she repeatedly curiously. The room in front of her was empty.

"Erza, watch out!"

She spun towards the sound, her heart thudding loudly in her ears.

Then it all went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone out here familiar with fencing? I'm not sure about the little sword dancing scene. Thanks to everyone who left kudos! If you feel so inclined (but only if) please leave a review!


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Natsu have been kidnapped! We get our first glimpse of the Big Bad, who offers our faithful team a little more than an apple. But what does he really want from them?

It felt like a thousand Vulcans were dancing in her skull. Groaning, she tried to turn onto her side. Bad idea. The insides of her skull lurched, as though they had somehow liquefied as she slept. She cracked her eyes open a fraction of an inch, testing the waters before she opened them fully. It was blissfully dark wherever she was. Lucy unpeeled her tongue from the roof of her mouth and rasped, "Where am I?"

"No idea. We were all captured last night." Erza voice came from somewhere beyond her immediate vision.

Lucy nodded reflexively and regretted it at once. The contents of her stomach flooded up her oesophagus. She choked the bile back down. "Were… were we drugged?"

She heard a snort and carefully turned her head to see Gray sitting against the far wall. They were in some kind of jail cell. "No," he smirked.

"Then why do I feel like death?" she whined. Oof, big mistake. Her own voice was too shrill for her ears.

"You have, what's the medical term? Ah yes, a hangover."

That made Lucy sit bolt upright. "What!"

"Natsu, make her stop!" Happy wailed, clutching his ears. He and Charle were slumped over on the ground beside her.

"What about Tiger? And Wendy?" Her tongue felt furry. She was sure Wendy could help.

"I'm here Lucy-san, but Tiger-san isn't."

"That reminds me, how come Wendy isn't hungover, Natsu?" Erza asked.

"What kind of irresponsible moron you take me for?" Natsu grumbled, pulling at the bars at the entrance to their cell. "I only let her drink half a beer and then made sure she had two glasses of water after that."

Wendy had been annoyed when he had forcibly tipped a jug of water down her throat the night before, but after seeing the state the others were in, she felt grateful that he had.

"Wendy, help," Charle whispered, feebly raising her head to look at her friend with watery eyes.

Wendy gave them all a rueful smile and lifted her bound hands. Finally realising that her own movements had been a little restricted, Lucy looked down and spotted Sealstone on her own wrists.

"Yo Lucy," Natsu said, "now that you're awake. Do you think Loke can come through the gate and help us out like last time?"

Lucy groaned. Why was he always so loud? She needed water. And hangover medication. And more water. And oh God, maybe a toilet because she was surely going to throw up. "He can't," she managed to say, "It's a violation of the 'external help' clause of the Quest contract. My Celestial Spirits can only be summoned using my own magic."

"Dammit," cursed Gray, "we were kinda relying on that!"

"No worries, we'll just have to bust out of this place the old fashioned way." Natsu flexed his fingers and charged head first into the cell bars.

"I doubt even you're that hard-headed, ash face."

"What was that, you walking snow cone?" Natsu swung around to kick Gray and ended up hitting the wall instead. The room began to shake and tiny stones cascaded down from the ceiling.

"Bastard! Why do you always act on instinct?!"

"Brace yourself everyone!" Erza yelled, curling up her body and shielding her head as the floor gave away. Her body bounced painfully off the walls lining the shaft that they were falling down, finally coming to a stop on hard ground. "Is everyone alright?" she asked, slowly getting to her feet.

The three hungover mages promptly threw up, unprepared for a rollercoaster ride first thing in the morning. Fortunately, the fall had shaken loose the Sealstone on Wendy's wrists. She quickly freed everyone else and cured Lucy, Happy and Charle's hangovers. "Where are we?" she wondered, squinting into the darkness.

Natsu produced a fireball and illuminated the area. They were at the confluence of a group of tunnels, dark passages branching off blackly on all sides. He sniffed. "Wendy, you smell that?"

"That way." Wendy pointed towards one of the tunnels. It was so faint that she would have missed it if Natsu had not pointed it out. "It's also where the air is coming from."

"There's nothing for it then, let's go." Erza gave Lucy a hand and pulled her to her feet. "What does it smell like anyway?"

The flame in his hand cast Natsu's face in shadow. It made the expression on his face look even grimmer. "Death," he said.

* * *

"The Questers have escaped, Master," his minion said, her tongue flickering out to taste the air.

"It's alright Hebiko, I know where they are." He dismissed her with a flick of his scaly hand. The Snake Guardian leaned back against his throne, his halo of coiled hair parting of its own accord and resettling on his shoulders. As predicted, the group of wizards had blundered their way into the warren of tunnels under his mansion. They would find their way to him soon enough. After all, there were two Dragon Slayers in the group. His jaw clenched involuntarily. A low hiss was heard as unseen nozzles sprayed more musk into the room. 'No point in them getting lost,' he reasoned. The fact that he was feeling a tiny bit threatened was one he would choose to ignore.

When the group finally found their way to the dimly lit cavern he called his throne room, they saw an ageless man reclining on an ornate chair. "You're here," he said. His voice was sibilant and soft, barely above a whisper and yet they could hear him clearly. He rose from his seat, his long coat susurrating as it slid against his lithe body. Eyes, like slits, glowed in the gloom, studying them, dissecting them. Tendrils of his hair began to coil upwards from his head. With a start Lucy realised they were snakes.

The snakes seemed to laugh at them; the tongues slipping forth from their mouths in an eerie jeer. It set Natsu on edge. "Why did you kidnap us?" he demanded.

"You were taking too long to come to me," the Snake replied coolly. A forked tongue darted out past his lips. He turned to Erza almost before she spoke.

"If you are the Snake Guardian, then what task do you have for us?"

The Snake laughed, revealing translucent fangs. "Why, for you to abandon the Quest of course."

* * *

What happened next transpired too quickly for Gray to react. Slimy tentacles appeared from the walls and grabbed them, pulling them apart. He saw Erza manage to slice a few of them before he was dragged away. The next thing he knew, he was lying on a soft mattress in a well-appointed room. Gray took a moment to admire the décor before realising there was no door. He was trapped. Something stirred under the blanket beside him. He leapt out of the bed immediately.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. So jumpy," the Guardian Snake said, emerging from under the covers. "I didn't know Devil Slayers scared so easily."

"Where the hell am I? Where are my friends?"

"They're safe, don't worry. Violence is always a last resort." The Snake perched on the edge of the bed and crossed one long, elegant leg over the other. "I'm here to offer you a deal."

"The answer is no, whatever it is. Now take me to my friends."

The Guardian chuckled. "I was expecting that from your Dragon Slayer friend. I thought you were the smart one. Shouldn't you hear me out at least?" He gave a small shrug, the expression on his face one of pure innocence.

Gray crossed his hands over his chest and looked at him expectantly.

"I don't know if you know this, but we Guardian Spirits are as old as time itself. Certainly far older than the Gods you subscribe to."

"What's your point?"

The Snake sighed and all the little snakes in his hair rolled their eyes dramatically. "The clue was in the sentence. We're as old as time. As such we have some control over that domain." He twirled a snake around his finger coyly. The poor creature's eyes ex-ed out. "You wouldn't happen to know someone trapped in time now, would you?"

* * *

"Open the Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius!" Lucy commanded her Celestial Spirit to fire a barrage of arrows into the suspicious lump in the mattress.

"Honestly! These are 800 thread count sheets you know?" The Guardian slithered out of the bed, the arrows having bounced harmless off his scaly skin. He straightened the lapels of his tailored suit and glared at Sagittarius. The Celestial Spirit found himself paralyzed.

"Sagittarius, what's wrong?" Lucy asked urgently, but her Celestial Spirit did not so much as blink. She hurriedly closed his gate and pulled out another key.

"Now, now, there's no need for all that," the Snake said, gesturing with his hand. "I've only come to make you an offer."

"And that is?"

"Tell me, Celestial Spirit Wizard. Do you know what happens when the moon is in the seventh house? And Jupiter aligns with Mars?" His lips twitched as though holding back a smile.

"Is that some kind of riddle?"

"No, not really." He shook his head patronisingly. "What I'm offering you, my dear, is the Aquarius key."

* * *

Erza pulled back the blanket and stared at the coiled up snake in her bed. It eyed her distastefully, its hood spreading open. When Erza did not react, it seemed to sigh. The snake twisted, growing into the shape of the Snake Guardian. "You're no fun," he pouted. "Your friends reacted most pleasingly."

"Get to the point. What is this about?" she asked. The embroidered quilt around her waist was exquisite. Vines of roses spread across the cloth, the leaves and thorns almost too detailed.

"I've come to make you an offer."

"I see. Then let us speak frankly." Erza requipped a sword into her hand and calmly sliced the air around her waist. The room around her vanished. A slimy tentacle, no, on close examination it was a snake's tail, fell to the floor of the throne room.

The illusion had been exceptional, but even without her artificial eye, she had seen through it. It had felt too real. She could see Gray, Lucy, Happy and Charle hanging limply in the air, suspended by more snake tails. Natsu and Wendy were missing.

"It seems I underestimated you."

Erza stared at the Guardian impassively. "Well?"

"I've heard you've been having some problems. Now, I'm not one to meddle with affairs of the heart, but-" His voice was smooth and practised.

Erza stiffened, wariness settling over her features. "But?"

"But I can make an exception for a pitiful case. I can't change the past, but I  _can_  change the way it is remembered. Not just by you or him, but by everyone in the world."

Erza took a sharp intake of breath as his words registered. "Y-you would-"

"Heroes can become villains, villains can become heroes. Recollections can be fickle. Thoughts are easy to rearrange. Who is to say, what is the truth? What is the past after all, but human memory?"

"And in return…"

"You drink the Potion of Abdication." He waved a hand and the vial around Erza's neck floated out of her armour. "Quit the Quest."

It was tempting. So tempting. A vision of her and Jellal laughing and holding hands frolicked across her mind. She grit her teeth and pulled herself together. "Rewriting the narrative will not change the truth. The reality of events. I am who I am because of the things I have been through. I would not change it for anything." Light shone from her feet, flashing upwards and wrapping her body. Wings unfurled from her back as Erza waved a hand, sending swords to cut her friends free. "But regardless of that, I reject your offer. We will never give up."

"We will never surrender," Gray said, shaking the scaly appendage from his shoulders.

Lucy pushed herself off the ground, a determined scowl on her face. "Because we are Fairy Tail Wizards!"

* * *

"Where is Wendy?" Charle demanded. The slimy bastard had offered to enhance her clairvoyance and allow her to see into the past as well as the future. She had dismissed him instantly, of course. There was no way Wendy would agree to abandon their mission and she was going nowhere without her best friend. Besides, what would the point of all her powers be if she could not use it to help Wendy?

"The little Dragon Slayer? Oh, I have her stashed somewhere. The boy too."

Erza's swords lifted off the ground, forming a circle above her head, their sharp points directed at the Guardian. Next to her, Gray had let his Devil Slayer powers out. The stave of his Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Bow was nearly bent in half, he had stretched the bowstring as far back as it would go. Lucy summoned Scorpio, changing into the appropriate Star Dress. Even Happy had put up his dukes, ready to fight.

"If you don't return Natsu and Wendy, you leave us with no choice," Erza said.

The Guardian Snake laughed. "You think you can take me on with those puny powers?"

"We sure as hell can try," Gray growled and released his arrow.

"Dance, my swords!"

"Scorpio, hit him with a Sand Buster!"

"We are!"

The three attacks hit simultaneously, a cloud of smoke enveloping the Snake. The shadow of his form raised a hand and the smoke disappeared instantly. He brushed a bit of lint from his jacket nonchalantly.

"Is that all you've got?"

"Where are our friends?" Erza asked. She was a little taken aback that their attacks had had so little impact.

"I'm not done with them as yet."

Gray signalled to Happy. "Aye Sir!" Happy replied and lifted Gray high into the air. "Ice Devil's Rage!" Gray yelled. A beam of ice and snow spewed forth from his mouth, hitting the Guardian Snake in the knee. A shell of ice formed around his leg. Gray used the moment and let loose another arrow from his Zeroth Destruction bow.

The Snake caught the arrow mid-flight and tossed it away. "Really," he said, giving his leg a little shake. The ice burst into tiny fragments. "Do you think it is wise to keep using your Devil Slayer magic like that?"

Gray's eyes widened. He let the black marks fade back into his skin. "What does he mean, Gray?" Erza asked. Meanwhile, Lucy had summoned Loke. The Lion Spirit sped towards the Guardian, throwing punches like lightning.

The Guardian dodged his blows with ease. "I see he hasn't told you," he said as he danced across the floor, skilfully avoiding Loke's flying fists. "Devil Slayer magic slowly saps away the user's sanity."

Erza cursed under her breath. The expression on that fool's face told her the Snake spoke the truth. She requipped into her Black Wing Armour. "Moon Flash!" she cried, slashing at the Snake as she flew past. She would deal with Gray later.

"Get him, Erza!" Happy cheered.

The Guardian's suit ripped open, revealing a scaly and well-muscled torso. "This suit cost a lot of money you know!"

Loke used the distraction to his advantage. "Regulus Gatling Impact!" He delivered a series of punches, temporarily blinding the Guardian and driving him back.

"I told you, your pathetic attacks have no effect-"

"Now Virgo!" Lucy cried. Unbeknownst to her comrades, she had summoned a third Celestial Spirit.

Virgo popped out of her hiding place in the ground. "Yes Princess!" She clapped her hands once and a layer of earth lifted, revealing the pitfall she had spent the last several minutes digging. The Guardian gave a little yelp of surprise as he fell in.

"Not bad, Lucy!" Charle said, flying to the edge of the pit. "Huh? Where did he go?" The pit was empty.

The Guardian Snake materialised on his throne. "Tenacious brats, aren't you?" he said. His forehead wrinkled in irritation as he spotted Erza requipping into her Lightning Empress Armour. "It seems you don't understand plain language. I'll just have to show you instead." He got to his feel and began to slowly raise his arms.

The wizards found themselves brought to their knees. "What. Is. This. Magic. Power?" Gray grunted.

"Sorry Lucy," Loke choked out. He, Scorpio and Virgo disappeared.

Charle's vision was blurring. She could barely lift her head to see what was happening around her. She was being pushed into the ground.

The Snake's arms were at shoulder level when Erza's armour was stripped away. She forced herself to keep her head high, struggling against his incredible magical energy for as long as she could. Gray and Lucy were already face down on the floor. Erza's chin dug into the ground, the pressure in her neck made her feel as though it would snap. All her bones felt that way. She was being crushed. She fought to keep her eyes open. She would resist. She would fight to the very end. The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was the Guardian, his arms spread wide, his head tilted back as though basking in his own glory.

* * *

It was pitch dark where Wendy was. The air was stale and limited. She could feel cold stone walls around her when she stretched her hands. She walked around the room once. Smaller than she had expected. She could feel no doors or windows and there was no air coming into the room. There was enough air for six hours maybe. Five if she decided to scream for help, which she might have to do. There was no way any of her attacks were going to budge solid stone. She sat down to think. She needed a plan.

The air in front of her shimmered. She heard a click as the Guardian Snake snapped his fingers. A tiny river of fire ran across the edges of the ceiling. "You. Dragon Slayer." His nose wrinkled in disgust.

Wendy hastily got to her feet, her arms braced in a defensive posture. The Guardian snorted. He raised a finger and Wendy found herself flung backwards. She was being pressed into the wall by an enormous, invisible force.

"I've come to make you an offer. Just like I made the others," he said. Wendy opened her mouth to reply, but an unseen hand tightened around her throat. "I don't have time to waste on scum like you," he continued. "Abandon the Quest and I will give you something precious. You have someone you love, don't you?"

Wendy's fist clenched and she rotated her wrist. "Sky Dragon's Wave Wind," she bit out. A violent tornado formed from her fingers and went rushing towards the Guardian.

"Foolish girl. Let's see how you like it." He swept his hand in the air and the attack dispersed. He moved his index finger in a circular motion and Wendy found herself being spun around the room. She banged into the hard, unyielding walls as she went. The breath was knocked from her body and she could feel one of her teeth coming loose. The Guardian kept speaking as he twirled her around the room. "This person you love. She sacrificed something for you." Wendy's ears perked up. "Oh, so we're listening now are we? Good. Drink the Potion of Abdication. If you do so, she won't have to make do with parlour tricks anymore. I'll return all her magic to her."

He brought his hand down with a flourish, like a conductor nearing the end of a symphony. "Quit the Quest, or-"

Wendy landed on her back with a thump. "Or what?" she gasped.

The Guardian placed his boot on her chest, driving out what scant air she had managed to inhale. He leaned in. "Or," he said, spitting in her face, "you die."

* * *

The male Dragon Slayer was trickier. The Snake's lip curled in distaste as he watched him pacing agitatedly around his cell. Every now and then he would stop and try to rip the bars apart with his hands. "Happy! Lucy!" he yelled.

'What does one offer someone who wants nothing?' the Guardian thought to himself. No. That was not true. He wanted power, the same as everyone else. Why else would he have taken up the Quest? Humans were sickening creatures.

The wizard set his fist aflame and punched one of the bars of the cell. It buckled the slightest bit. Another three punches and it had broken in half. He set to work on another bar.

'He's stronger than I thought.' The Snake hissed and scratched his neck, his skin flaking off under his fingernails, 'Bathing in dragon's blood will do that to you.' He pursed his lips and considered the boy. He had barely managed to keep his contempt under control against the little girl. He would have to try harder. This boy aroused much stronger loathing in his breast than she had. The girl was unambitious, easily taken care of. He on the other hand… he was everything the Snake abhorred. His hatred spurring him to a course of action, the Snake materialised inside Natsu's cell.

"Fire Dragon Roar!" Natsu did not waste any time talking. He could hear Lucy and Happy calling his name. The sound was faint, but he the distress in their voices was evident. He had to find them right away.

The Guardian coolly dodged the attack. "I've come to make you an offer," he snarled. Keeping his temper under control was harder than he had thought.

"I don't give a crap about your offer. Take me to my friends! Fire Dragon Iron Fist!"

The Guardian caught the fist that was flying towards his face. "Don't test me," he said, his hold tightening. The bones in Natsu's hand cracked. Undaunted, Natsu gripped his right hand with his left. "Fire Dragon's Grip Strike!" An explosion of flame poured forth, setting the Guardian's body aflame.

The Guardian swung Natsu by the fist in his hand and sent him crashing against the far wall. "Now you've pissed me off," he said. His skin was blackened and charred, the snakes in his hair lying limp. He raised his hands to the parting of his hair, grabbed and pulled. The outer layers of his skin peeled off, revealing viridian scales beneath. Speckled white eggs dotted his bald pate. He shimmied and the rest of the dead skin sloughed off.

"You really are a snake," Natsu commented, before running at the Snake again. The Snake side-stepped his attacks, blocking where evasion failed. Natsu grew fed up of being unable to land a hit. Time for a new plan. "Oh my God, what's that!" he yelled and pointed behind the Guardian.

The Guardian obligingly turned to look. Natsu quickly drew a circle with his hands, "Dragon Slayer's Secret Art! Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!" He unleashed a vortex of fire towards his opponent. It hit the Snake in the square in the back, making him stagger forward a few feet.

"You filthy bastard," he roared, turning around to face Natsu. His magic began to flow out of him, making the small stones that lined the floor of the cell float in the air. He kicked out at Natsu, before spinning on one leg and kicking him again. "Disgusting. Dishonest. Human. TRASH!" He peppered each word with a roundhouse kick. Natsu found himself backed into a corner, every blow making him spit blood. The Guardian caught him around the throat and hoisted him high against the wall. Natsu was too dazed to retaliate.

The Snake raised a hand to deliver the finishing strike before he remembered the Rules of the Quest. He could not kill the Quester at the first encounter. He hissed angrily. A stupid Rule if there ever was one. It had caused him too much grief.

He shuddered as he reigned in his temper. "I leave you with one choice," he said. He bared his teeth and sank his fangs into Natsu's neck. Natsu's body burned as poison flooded into his veins. "If you're not already dead the next time I see you. You will be."

* * *

"Natsu! Wendy!" Happy called. The five of them had been wandering the tunnels for hours, but they had found no clue to their missing comrades. They were hopelessly lost. Gray was not even sure if they were still in Tekka. Something told him they were not. He saw Erza up ahead. She had produced a lacrima-torch from her pocket dimension and was leading the way. She was also ignoring him. Her cold shoulder was chilly enough to send shivers up even an ice mage's spine. Stupid Guardian bastard. He was careful enough with his Devil Slayer magic. There was no need to tell anyone about it.

"Say, Happy, what did the Snake offer you?" he asked.

Happy looked away sheepishly. "He offered me a lifetime's supply of fish. But I turned him down!" It was unnecessary to reveal that his undexterous paws had been unable to pull the stopper from the vial of Abdication Potion before Erza had freed them all.

They took another random turn, no closer to knowing where they were. "Sorry everyone, I don't even have enough magic to summon Pyxis," Lucy said. Summoning three Spirits had sapped all the strength from her body.

"You did the best you could," Charle replied, her usual hauteur lost in the face of her concern for Wendy. Upon waking, she had tried to use her foresight to catch a glimpse of her friends but all she had seen was Wendy lying battered on the floor of an unidentifiable cell. She did not want to share with the others what she had seen of Natsu. She just hoped that they could find their friends fast.

Suddenly Erza stopped. "Everyone get back!" She spread her arms to try and shield her nakama. The Guardian stepped forth from the darkness. He was carrying two lifeless bodies in each hand. He unceremoniously flung Natsu and Wendy at Erza's feet.

"Natsu!" Lucy and Happy cried simultaneously, rushing forth to help their friend. Two deep holes were visible on Natsu's neck, the skin around them a dark blue that faded to grey the further it got from the wound. Charle fluttered over to Wendy, cradling her head.

"What did you do to our friends?" Erza asked, her voice more of a command than a question.

"The offers still stand. Any time you choose to accept, drink the Potion of Abdication. I'll keep my end of the bargain. As for the boy." He nudged Natsu with his foot. Happy flew up to strike back and he was sent flying away. "He'll be cured as soon as he quits. If not, eh." He gave an insouciant shrug.

"Bastard!" Gray started forward.

"Ugh, not again. I don't have time for this." The Snake snapped his fingers. Hundreds of tiny nozzles surfaced from the walls of the tunnel, hissing as they sprayed a chemical into the air. Before he lost consciousness, he heard the Snake say, "Hebiko, take them back to wherever you brought them from."

When he woke they were back in their hotel room in Tekka. Slivers of light peeped in through the gaps in the curtains as morning broke over the city. Had they been gone only one night? The whole thing had felt like a dream. That notion was soon disproved. Natsu lay, ash-faced, on the next bed, an unconscious Wendy on the bed beside him. Lucy and Erza were stirring in their respective beds on the other side of the room. Only Charle was already awake; standing at the door to the balcony, her delicate shoulders shaking. "I saw it," she said, "I saw the future. He won't give up the Quest. Natsu-" Her voice broke and she looked despairingly at the rest of them.

The unshed tears in her eyes said more than words ever could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone catch the Hair (sledgehammer) reference? Or the Inuyasha one from Chapter 2?  
> Thanks to everyone who left kudos and comments! I love you all, you're the fuel in my tank, the Sonny to my Cher.. I'll shut up now shall I?  
> I lied when I said 18 chapters. Things have gotten more complicated than I expected. Damn these characters, why do they got to develop in all these unplanned ways!


	10. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu lies unconscious, close to succumbing to the Guardian Snake's poison. The group rushes to find a cure. Later we have a foxtrot by our foxy leads. And some much needed male fanservice.

A loud crash resounded through the building. The person in bed lifted a tired head and blinked dully at the intruder at their door before going back to staring out of the window. The rain rolled down the windowpane, zigzagging into a delicate filigree that was there one minute and gone the next.

"It's been raining for a week now, Juvia," Meredy said. Concern interlaced with annoyance as she eyed her friend. Juvia did not respond. Instead, she hugged the plushie she was holding tighter. Meredy flopped onto the bed next to her friend. "Get up! Getupgetupgetup!" Each 'get up' was punctuated by a playful punch to her friend's thigh. Juvia did not react.

Her listlessness had come upon her suddenly. True, she had been moping around the guild since Gray and the others had left, but she had at least gotten out of bed every day and, Meredy leaned in and gave an experimental sniff before recoiling, and had showered regularly. Meredy had thought it best to leave her depressed friend alone until Cana had mentioned that the last time Gray had left Juvia, it had rained for six months. The weather around Juvia was effected by her moods but it also drained her magic. She had never figured out a way to control the phenomenon and if this kept up, she would fall sick again. Meredy could already feel the warmth of a low fever radiating from her body. She absently played with Juvia's hair and evaluated a course of action.

"It will be two months soon," Juvia mumbled, after some minutes had passed. She sighed gustily and buried her face in the plushie. Meredy had to strain her ears to hear her. "Gildarts-san was gone for three years when he took the same mission. How long will Gray-sama be gone?" Hollow eyes turned to Meredy. "Why did he not take Juvia?"

Meredy's heart broke for her friend. She looked around the room, at the various similitudes lining the shelves and tables. Every surface was covered with Gray. 'A bit ironic,' thought Meredy, 'since he has never set foot in here.'

"Gray-sama, Gray-sama. Is that all there is to your life?" Her voice came out colder than she had intended. Juvia had to blink back her surprise. Meredy sighed. She recognised obsession when she saw it. She had once been obsessed with Gray herself, albeit in a less romantic, more murderous fashion. She forced more kindness into her tone and said, "You cannot live your life for someone else Juvia. What about you? Your hobbies? Your interests?"

Juvia's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "Gray-sama likes-"

"No. Not what Gray likes. What  _you_ like."

"I-I don't understand." A pause. "Juvia likes Gray-sama."

"Err… right." Meredy decided to try a different tactic. "What do you think Gray is doing right now?"

Juvia bolted up in bed. "He had better not be spending too much time with Love Rival!"

Meredy had once read that with every sigh, one loses a bit of their happiness. This conversation with Juvia was going to drain a lifetime's supply at the rate it was going. "Juvia, Gray is having new adventures, is learning new things, is growing as a wizard and a person." Or so she hoped anyway. "What is he going to say when he comes back and finds out that all you have done is mope around in bed?" She shrugged in feigned casualness. "He will leave you behind."

Alarm flashed across Juvia's face. She hurriedly threw the covers back and bolted for the bathroom. Meredy could hear the creaking of the taps followed by the sound of running water. She moved a Gray doll off the window seat and sat down. It was not the healthiest of motivations, but at least the sun was shining again.

* * *

Natsu lay pale as the pillowcase under his head, his breath coming in short shallow gasps. "I'm sorry," Wendy said helplessly for the hundredth time. Her magic could not eliminate the poison from his body and she had exhausted herself trying.

"It's OK, Wendy," Erza replied. She patted the girl gently on the back of her head. She had sent the others away, Gray and the Exceeds to search for the Tiger, Lucy to find a quiet place to consult with Crux, so that she could talk to Wendy alone. She wanted to try and lift her from the dumps the young girl found herself in.

"I'm just too weak." Wendy's voice cracked. "I'm supposed to be able to help everyone. Heal them. But I've failed twice already. Once with you, Erza-san and now with Natsu-san. What good are these powers if I cannot help anyone?" Hot tears dripped onto her hands as they twisted in her skirt.

"Wendy," Erza said earnestly, "Look at me. You are only fourteen years old yet you already know so much. You can do so much. Of course some things will be beyond your abilities. There are some things you may be still to learn. And that is OK. It does not mean you are useless. You have helped us all so many times and I am sure, you will find some way to help Natsu too. Do not give up." She brought her arms gently around Wendy's narrow shoulders and embraced her. "I am proud of you."

It only made Wendy cry harder.

"Now come, dry your eyes. I have been noticing the way you are holding yourself." Erza fixed Wendy with a stern look. "Where are your injuries?"

Wendy sheepishly lifted her shirt, revealing skin mottled by painful-looking purple splotches. She had cracked a few ribs when the Snake had stepped on her. Erza reached for a roll of bandages with brisk efficiency. Wendy was almost reluctant to submit to Erza's care, still having a vivid recollection of Erza's aggressive bandaging style from Tenroujima, but she had no choice. She could not heal herself. Erza carefully wrapped her chest and then made a cup of tea from the lacrima kettle in their room. She had just managed to force the liquid down Wendy's throat when the others returned with the Guardian.

"You're very lucky," the Guardian said without preamble, "You were already on a Task from me when you were taken. Otherwise I would not be able to help you at all." She leaned over Natsu and examined the wound on his neck. "It's bad," she looked at the ashen faces around her, "but it's not fatal. Not yet anyway. You're actually twice lucky. My element is wood; I was made to help fire. We might need to get out of the city for this. Do you still have the jeep?"

"Slow down," Gray interrupted, "how exactly are you going to cure him?"

"I'm not. Natsu is a fire mage, yes? If I lend him some of my wood ability, he can get his fire to an incredible temperature. It is possible that will be able to burn the poison from his body. It won't completely disappear, but I daresay Wendy should be able to keep it under control. As long as Natsu doesn't overexert himself and use his magic at the highest level, the kernels of poison in his bloodstream should remain dormant. But if he does," she paused, scratching her ear contemplatively, "I just don't understand it. He should not have done this. Guardians are forbidden from killing Questers at the first encounter. A fatal blow like this one… it is against the Rules of the Quest."

"He gave Natsu a choice. If he leaves the Quest, the poison will disappear from his body," Charle explained, "as such, I don't think it counts as a fatal blow."

"Or he could simply reappear when Natsu is near death, thereby circumventing the clause. It's poor sportsmanship, but technically allowed."

"We're wasting time," Lucy said testily, "Grandpa Crux couldn't come up with anything. This is our only option. We can discuss the fine-print of the Quest's rules after we help Natsu. Wendy, do you have anything that will wake Natsu long enough to use his magic?"

Wendy nodded. "Yes. But it will only last for a few seconds. I can only use it when we are ready for the rest."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get going!"

* * *

Lucy was going mad. She paced around helplessly as Gray and Erza established a perimeter around Natsu's body. "No. Bigger. Natsu managed to burn up the entire Domus Flau last time he unleashed his powers. This won't nearly be enough." Gray and Erza obediently spread out another half a kilometre. Across the field, Charle and Happy did the same. They were using Lucy's Fleuve d'étoiles to measure out the boundary. The sun edged ever closer to the horizon, tinting the landscape in beautiful pinks and golds. Not that Lucy could appreciate it at that moment.

She prayed it would work. The one thing that they had all agreed on was that stubborn, headstrong Natsu would not quit the Quest. It was far more likely he would try to find the Guardian Snake and try to beat him to a pulp. 'Stupid idiot,' she thought, pinching her nose to stop her tears in their tracks. She could cry later. She had something important to do here.

They had driven a fair way out of the city, past the small villages that dotted the countryside around it, to no-man's-land. Lucy did not expect any regular citizens to appear this far out in the country, but it was better to be safe than sorry. She knew the power of Natsu's flames. And that was without the Guardian Tiger's help.

Wendy and the Tiger stood with Natsu at the centre of the field, a speck of blue, orange and pink in the green landscape. They almost looked like flowers. When it looked like the perimeter was adequate, Lucy waved her hands. She jogged over to Natsu and summoned Horologium. "Ready?" she asked Wendy and the Tiger. The nodded back at her. She bit her lip and stroked the hair back from Natsu's forehead. "Here goes nothing."

Wendy spread her arms and chanted, "Body Anomaly Creation Magic: Nadnercze!" Balls of green light shot from her hands and flew into Natsu's lower abdomen. He woke with a gasp. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he stared at his surroundings, his eyes not taking anything in, the pupils too shrunken in fear.

"Natsu, listen to me," Lucy said, "I'm in danger. You have to release your fire. Burn everything Natsu. Help me. Burn. Everything." The flames began to lick at Natsu's wrists and the Tiger stepped up and placed her hands on his head. Horologium swallowed up Lucy and Wendy and carried them to safety. Lucy felt a bit bad about lying to Natsu, but if there was anything that could get him to go all out, it was this.

"Ice Make: Wall!" Gray's protective barrier shot up from the ground, tracing the inside of the barrier marked by the River of Stars. It had just curved around and closed in on itself when the first flames licked the boundary. Erza, Happy and Charle came rushing up to meet them.

"Don't worry. It will work," Erza reassured them. She handed Lucy's whip back to her.

"It had better work fast, I don't know how much longer I can keep this barrier up," Gray grunted. Sweat was dripping down his nose, though whether it was from the exertion or the conflagaration just on the other side of the wall, it was hard to tell.

For years after, the people of southern Giltena spoke of the night the moon did not rise, of the blazing inferno that brushed the sky and scared the very Gods from the heavens. No one knew what or why it had happened, just that it had been glorious to behold.

Legends are prone to exaggeration, the tendency for hyperbole in a poet's heart too easily lead astray by romanticism. In reality, it was all over in ten minutes. The flames died down and Gray cautiously lowered the wall. Natsu sat in the middle of the field, naked as the day he was born save for the scaly scarf around his neck. Lucy broke into a run, vaulting over the rapidly diminishing wall of ice. "Natsu!"

Her tears glittered as brightly as the stars that shone down upon them. She lunged toward him, knocking him over. They rolled for a few metres before they came to a stop. "Don't ever do that again," she sobbed, holding him to her chest.

His arms circled around her, coming to rest gently on her back. "I told you once before. Stop crying, Lucy. Because we'll always be together."

* * *

" _Empanadas_ ," the Tiger said decisively.

Lucy looked up at where the Tiger and Erza were deep in conversation near Gray's bed. She pulled the covers up around Natsu and Happy and went to join them.

"No. I am telling you.  _Manjuu_ ," Erza replied, just as insistently.

"What are you guys talking ab- ack!" Lucy drew back at the sight of Gray's bare bottom. He was lying face down on the mattress, snoozing blissfully, his clothes having been discarded on the floor by the bed. "What are you two doing?!" she hissed.

"Ah, Lucy," Erza said, "We are having some trouble here. Do you think Gray's buttocks are better described as  _empanadas_  or  _manjuu_?"

"I'm not participating in this perverted discussion." She was not even going to look. She stared at the far wall, deliberately, determinedly not looking. OK, maybe they were a little like plump, shiny dough pockets. Not that she was looking. No sir, not her.

"We should cover him up before Wendy wakes up." Erza's tone was almost wistful. The three of them turned as one to look at Wendy and Charle, sleeping peacefully in the bed next to Natsu's.

"Yes. We should." Lucy's voice sounded as if it was coming from a long distance away.

'Really, it is all the Tiger's fault,' Erza thought. She had seen Gray naked plenty of times before. Far more than she cared to count. Yet she had never really considered what a fine physical specimen he was until the Tiger had pointed it out. Her eyes travelled downwards from their object of discussion, taking in his powerful thighs, his well-muscled calves and his big, sturdy feet. They really were very attractive feet. And that back. How many times had she washed that broad, strong back? It was a tragedy that she had never appreciated it before then. She should have been encouraging his stripping habit all these years instead of thumping him every time he took his clothes off. Her eyes returned to his firm bottom. She turned to Lucy urgently. "Do you happen to have a coin with you? I think we could try bouncing it off-"

"No," Lucy said firmly, "Now come on, we need to buy breakfast for everyone." She dragged Erza off before she could come up with any more ideas.

The Tiger watched them go with only half an eye. "Definitely  _empanadas_."

* * *

Fairy Nail was kind enough to reschedule the Tiger's audition for that evening. "I have nothing to wear!" she wailed desperately, "You! This is all your fault." She looked at Natsu reproachfully. "You burned away the cool outfit we bought for me last week. I don't even know if we have time to go shopping again!"

"Don't blame me for that, you overgrown pussy cat!" He jumped out of bed, ready to fight.

Erza glared at him. "Get back in bed."

"A-Aye Erza!"

"That reminds me, Tiger," Lucy said, "you said the treatment we gave Natsu won't cure him. Do you know what will?"

"I'm afraid you'll have go to the source of the problem for that."

"Alright, yes! Let's go beat up the snake guy! I'm getting fired up!"

"Idiot!" Lucy swatted him across the head with a newspaper. The Tiger merely fixed him with a long-suffering look and raised a finger. The room began to shake. The intense pressure the group had felt against the Guardian Snake was back. Lucy's knees buckled and she fell on Natsu's bed. She and Happy were pressed into his body by the Tiger's magic energy. The lacrima-lights overhead popped one by one. Wendy, Erza, Gray and Charle found themselves being forced to the floor. The bed Natsu and the others were on collapsed.

"Stop. We. Get. Your. Point," Charle said, every word a struggle.

The Tiger put down her raised finger and shrugged. "And I wasn't even trying."

"Geez, you didn't have to wreck the room." Lucy surveyed the damage. Who was going to pay for this?

The Tiger struck a strongman's pose and continued, "Guardian Spirits have been around since the dawn of time. It is impossible for you to beat us head on. You would have to use considerable trickery." Her expression grew troubled as she said the last part.

"But those hunters from Artemis Nock almost managed to kill the Guardian Pig," Lucy interjected. That was a gruelling battle she was not going to soon forget.

"There are various limits and constraints placed on the Guardian Spirits here on Earthland. The Rules of the Quest, so to speak." She gave them a tight smile, indicating that this was a subject she was not fond of speaking of. "Every set of rules has its loopholes."

Lucy opened her mouth to say something further but the Tiger smoothly cut her off. "Or you could, you know, try to accomplish his Task. Like you're supposed to."

"But we weren't given a Task!" Gray protested.

"Weren't you?" the Tiger replied cryptically. She spun with a flourish towards the mirror and fussed again, "What am I going to wear!"

Sensing that the topic was closed for discussion, Erza pulled up the organiser for her pocket dimension. A rectangular hologram appeared before her. "Let me see if I have something." Her fingers flicked expertly across its translucence as she sifted through her inventory. She paused upon a promising outfit, dragging it across the hologram. A pair of ripped jeans and a leather bustier appeared in the air before her, dropping to the ground with a soft plop.

The Tiger picked them up gingerly, her nose wrinkled in distaste. "Don't you have anything more… butch?"

"I think I have just the thing." She scrolled through her wardrobe even faster.

Gray's eyes chanced upon a flowy white dress as it whizzed across the screen. "Erza," he struggled to disguise the laugh in his voice, "why do you have a wedding dress in your armoury?"

"I-i-it's not what you think!"

"Really Erza, are you expecting to be married soon?" The Tiger's eyes were wide in the anticipation of some hot gossip.

"Charle, does this mean Jellal-san proposed?" Wendy whispered.

"They're in llllllooooove."

"N-no, you have it all wrong." Erza cast about desperately for a distraction. "Tiger thinks Gray's butt cheeks looks like  _empanadas_!" She pointed an accusatory finger at the Tiger.

"Hey! That discussion was private!" The Tiger pointed right back. "Erza thinks they look like  _manjuu_!"

"Juvia always says that they look like  _shokupan_."

"Really, Happy? I always thought they looked like brioche buns," Natsu added conversationally.

"What the hell! Stop talking about my butt!"

"If you want people to stop talking about your butt then put on some clothes, ice pervert!"

"Argh! Where did they go?"

Wendy sweatdropped as she watched her Gray scramble around for his clothes. There was never a dull moment with her nakama around.

* * *

There was something comforting about the smell of beer. Stale beer, damp wood and a not-unpleasant undertone of sweat. That was what Fairy Tail smelled like. Gray opened his eyes and looked around the room. It was also, unsurprisingly, what Fairy Nail smelled like. The performers' guild was as lively and raucous as theirs; the beer flowed freely, hot-headed artistes brawled every now and then and even the people looked the same. It was just like home. Well, except for the lack of magical energy. It gave the room around him a slightly off-balance feeling, making him feel slightly homesick.

The Tiger's audition had gone off without a hitch. Erza had found a sleek white suit from her inventory, claiming that she wore it when she performed in a trio with Gajeel and Lily. Lucy had made the mistake of asking Erza about it, causing them to be subjected to a two hour concert of 'Steel Panther Swords 'n' Roses'' best work. Gray was surprised that the Tiger managed to retain any musicality at all after that.

She was currently on stage, dancing with the microphone stand as she performed an upbeat jazz number. The audition was long over but the Tiger wanted to perform for longer and so an impromptu party had started up. "I'll give you the Key at the end of the night. But for now, let me bathe in the adoration of my fans," she had said, throwing her arms out and enunciating 'fans' with the theatricality of a diva.

"Care to dance?" a short girl with twin pink ponytails said. Come to think of it, she looked a lot like that girl from Lyon's guild. She extended her hand to the person standing next to him.

"Go on." Gray nudged a blushing Wendy forward. She gave him an embarrassed smile and went off with her new friend. Natsu and Lucy were already on the dancefloor, Natsu looking beleaguered as Lucy harangued him about missing a step. It was good to see him up and about again. Happy hovered nearby, not even pestering Charle for a dance, nervously watching Natsu for any sign of a relapse. Gray sympathised with him. After the events of the battle with Alvarez, he was a little on edge too. Lucy had rewritten Natsu's book, but did that make him fully human? Would the poison influence Natsu differently? Gray shook his head. Natsu looked healthy and Wendy had given him the all-clear. That would have to suffice.

"Gray." Erza's deep voice broke him away from his thoughts. "Would you like to dance?" she asked.

He was struck with a vision of spinning  _beigoma_."Uhh, I think I-" he scrambled for an excuse but then he saw the hopeful expression in her eyes. "Fine. But only if you let me lead."

"What do you mean?"

She looked so confused that Gray thought it better not to explain. "Just, let me direct you in the steps ok? At least, try." He took Erza's hand and twirled her once before leading her onto the dancefloor. He clasped her hand loosely and placed his free hand high on her back. Her free hand slid onto his shoulder. "Ready?" he said. He began stepping forwards and backwards in time to the music.

"Gray. This is too slow. Dancing should be full of passion!" She let go of his shoulder and spun him around several times.

He had to reach out and grip her waist tightly to make her stop. "No.  _I'm_  leading remember? Damn it Erza, that doesn't mean you have to go limp in my arms. Just… be natural."

"Leading is my natural state."

Of course it was. Gray chuckled. "Fine, then you lead. Just, don't go overboard. OK?"

"OK." She wore a look of intense concentration, struggling to resist the urge to fling him around the dancefloor. Gray could hear her counting out the steps carefully under her breath. It was kind of cute. They settled into an easy rhythm. It was not exceptional or particularly complicated dancing but they moved well together. As in sync here as they were in battle. When she was satisfied that Gray had no complaints, she spoke, "What the Snake said about you. Is it true?"

Gray stiffened and missed a step. His eyes were focused somewhere beyond her ear.

"Is that why? During Alvarez, when you fought Natsu-"

"It's not a problem. Forget about it." His hand tightened on her back and he took over, setting the tempo of their movements.

"No." She twirled in his arms, slipping easily from his hold. She cast him away from her and then quickly pulled him back, making him spin as he returned. "Answer me, Gray."

He twisted her arm over her head, turning her so he faced her back, practically wrestling her into the hold. "This is supposed to be a fun dance, Erza. Let's not ruin the mood." He was grateful when the song finally ended. The two of them stepped back and politely applauded.

The band started up the slow strains of a soulful melody. "This is for all you lovebirds out there," the Tiger crooned into the microphone. Erza pulled Gray back into her arms. "Is this song serious enough for you?" She was craning her head back to give him her trademark glare.

"This is meant to be a romantic song, Erza. Maybe you should wait for some interrogation music."

The new song did not require her to do more than hold Gray and sway in place, so she could devote her full attention to scowling at him. He would cave eventually.

Gray sighed. "I have it under control." Onstage, the Tiger scatted, filling the gap in the lyrics with a meaningless melody.

"It did not look like that against the Snake. You had a slightly unhinged look in your eye."

"You would know," Gray muttered under his breath.

The saxophone grew louder, its sound a paradox, simultaneously harsh and melodious. "Fine," Erza said. She leaned forward and placed her cheek against his. They rocked in time to the music, the movements too simple to require leading. "Just remember, if I think you are going too far, I will cut you down myself."

Her armour was hard and unyielding under his palms, but the hair that slipped through his fingers was as soft as silk. "I know."

* * *

An iridescent key floated in the air before them. "You did well. Even though it was only for one night, I got experience what it felt like to be a celebrity." The Tiger vamped and posed for an invisible camera.

"I'm going to miss your crazy poses," Lucy said, wiping away a tear.

"They are not crazy. How you look on the outside can change how you feel on the inside. See?" She planted her fists on her hips and thrust her shoulders back. "I feel so confident now."

"I'm sure having a crowd of people cheering for you for several hours had nothing to do with that," Charle muttered in an aside.

"Oh yeah! I feel it too. Right Happy?"

"Aye sir!" Natsu and Happy stood on either side of the Guardian in identical poses.

"Go on then, touch the Key. I've got people waiting for me up there you know." The Tiger winked at them all.

"Yo, Kitty-chan. Thanks for everything."

"Aye, thanks for helping Natsu."

All seven of them placed their hands on the key simultaneously. The air around the Tiger began to shimmer and she began to fade from view. Sparkles danced in the cool night air. She looked at them seriously for a moment. "Don't give up. You're doing better than most."

"Never. The words 'give up' aren't even in our dictionaries," Gray said.

The Tiger grinned and struck one last pose. "Goodbye Questers!"

"Goodbye Tiger-san! May we meet again!" Wendy called as the last of the glitter rose towards the heavens and disappeared.

* * *

The walk back to their hotel was a quiet one. They had grown attached to the Tiger in the weeks they had spent with her. 'It's always sad to lose a new friend,' Lucy thought as she turned down the corridor to their room. Suddenly Erza shot out a hand. "There is someone in there!" she whispered.

"Not again. Isn't being kidnapped once in a week enough?" Lucy complained.

"No. This scent," Wendy sniffed. A smile broke over her face. "It's safe, Erza-san. Don't worry."

Erza pushed open the door to their room and stopped dead. She could feel something thud into her back as the people behind collided with her. It was nothing compared to how strongly her heart was thudding though. Standing before her, his usual hood drawn back, was the last person she had expected to see.

"Jellal?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Empanadas (shoutout to my all time favourite show, The Mindy Project!)? Manjuu? I like Juvia's idea of shokupan myself. Or Indian Pav with the firmness of German Kaiser Brötchen. Ah, the things you get to google as 'research.' I'm lowkey hungry now.  
> Thanks to the people who left kudos!


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter: A much awaited reunion. But it's not the one you think. Some angst is on the cards.

It had been over a year. 62 weeks. 13 months and 9 days. Six hundred twenty-seven thousand eight hundred and forty minutes to be exact. Well, now forty one. He looked the same as ever. Those determined eyes, that handsome face, the way he held himself; upright and crackling with barely contained magical energy. He had not changed at all.

"Why are you here?" Erza said.

"It is good to see you again, Fairy Tail," he replied, in the same measured tone he always used.

She had not heard his voice in so long. It felt like she had forgotten what it sounded like. In many ways it was easier to remember the boy she had loved and the adolescent she had hated. The man he had become when she had been frozen for seven years sometimes felt like a mirage. Hard to grasp. And yet, her heart clenched when she saw him.

"Erza," Jellal said, "I came across some information during my travels that I thought might be useful to you. So I travelled here to share it with you."

"I… see."

"You could have just called us," Natsu said.

"Aye! Lacrima communication technology has really advanced!"

Jellal gave a low chuckle. "I suppose you are right." His eyes met Erza's and her heart skipped a beat. He had come for  _her_.

"So what's this information then?" Gray said, crossing the room. He sat down on his bed and began to unlace his boots.

There was a crinkle of paper as Jellal pulled a rolled up scroll from his sleeve. "This is the location of Aconologia's lair. I remembered that Gildarts had faced him on the 100 Year Quest, so I thought it would be relevant. I've marked the location here."

"Thanks," she said, taking hold of the proffered map. A loaded second passed as their fingers brushed. The others watched on in uncomfortable silence.

Jellal cleared his throat. "If you would like to, you could travel back with me to Ishgar."

"We will have to decline your offer." Erza crossed her arms over her chest decisively.

"You sure about this Erza?" Gray asked.

She nodded. "Our Quest is here. I do not think we should be going on a wild goose chase like this."

"Natsu's cure is here too," Happy added.

"Cure?"

"Nothing, for you to concern yourself with Jelllal." Erza placed the map on her bedside table. "Anyway, thank you. You are welcome to stay the night with us, if you have nowhere else to go. I can double up with Wendy."

He looked around the messy room, with its broken lights and ruined beds. "Thank you, but I have something else arranged." The corner of his mouth lifted for a fraction of a second.

She inclined her head to show that she understood. She would find him later.

He stayed and chatted for a bit and then took his leave, his hood pulled low over his face as he slipped away into the night.

* * *

"Hey, Erza." Lucy whispered in the dark. Her eyes were too focused on Erza's bed to notice the shadow that slipped away in the corner. "Are you sure you don't want to travel back with Jellal? Aconologia did complete the Quest before, there might be some useful information in his lair."

"That would be a flimsy excuse, don't you think?"

"As flimsy as him travelling to another continent to give you two lines of information."

Erza chuckled. That boy needed to get better at lying. She suspected even Natsu had seen through that explanation.

"Erza. Go talk to him."

"I will. In a while. I am waiting." Unlike Lucy, Erza had seen the shadow that had stolen determinedly from the room.

"Waiting for what?"

"Nothing, Lucy. Go to sleep."

* * *

The lightest of breezes rustled through the trees. They whispered secrets to each other, their voices too low a murmur for the boy walking below to discern. No. Not a boy. He was a man. Though to beings as ancient as the trees he would always be a boy. They watched him go with an almost parental bent to their branches. Those who walked the path of darkness would always find a home in the shade.

Jellal stepped out from the forest, cresting the top of the hill. He could see all of Tekka from his vantage point. The sleeping town was bathed in moonlight, its streetlights a necklace of gold around a pale throat. He sent a ball of light into the air. It would hang there for an hour or so. 'Plenty of time,' he thought. He settled back against a rock to wait, the night-time keeping his thoughts company.

A footstep sounded somewhere behind him. He turned expectantly but was surprised when he saw a dark head instead of a scarlet one. "Gray?"

Gray crossed the short distance from the treeline. "I need to talk to you about something."

Jellal patted the grass and Gray flopped down beside him. "A while ago Wendy told me something interesting. When she was fighting the Spriggan 12 member who had control over time, Dimaria Yesta, she met Ultear."

"W-what?"

"There is a space that exists out of time. No, maybe it is time itself, as a dimension all of its own. It's where the God Chronos hangs out. Ultear's there."

His heart began to beat frantically. "That's impossible!" Jellal said, slashing the air with his hand, as though cutting down the very idea. "I know where Ultear is. She is in Fiore. Living as an old woman."

"What are you saying? Then the woman I saw after the Grand Magic Games really was-?" he tailed off, putting the pieces together in his head. "Wait a minute. You knew where she was? This whole time? Bastard!"

"She didn't want you to know. She didn't want you to feel guilty."

Gray laughed, a low sarcastic chuckle. "Well, too late for that."

"I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter." He shrugged. "How is she?"

"She is barely there. Her mind wanders, more often than not. She exists in a sort of daze, with no sense of time. Occasionally she will have moments of clarity, but they are getting rarer."

"No sense of time?" The final piece of the puzzle slotted into place. They both looked at each other, reaching the same conclusion. "Her mind is trapped in time."

"That was who Wendy met. This… it changes everything. We could get her back."

A shadow passed over Gray's face. "There is a way for me to get her back." He paused, looking away. "But I can't take it."

"I see." His tone was mild. "Why?"

Gray took a deep breath. He was not really sure why. He had a reason but it seemed inadequate. "I can't leave my nakama. This Quest, it's dangerous. We can't do it without each other. We need each other. I can't leave them. Just as they would never leave me." He raised a hand to his forehead. It still tingled uncomfortably when he thought of it. The blinding white light, the unending darkness behind it. The arms that stretched to pull him in. And then suddenly walking backwards, back into his body. Back to life. "I am the most selfish bastard." His fingers threaded through his hair and pulled. "She gave her  _life_  for me and I can't even do this for her."

A cloud passed over the moon, casting the land in shadow. The seconds creaked past. Jellal did not know the boy quite well enough to know what to say to comfort him. An owl hooted in the woods, its ringing sound stirring a memory from the depths of his mind.

"She didn't know," he said. "When she did the spell. That you had…"

"Why did she do it then?"

Jellal sighed. "It is hard for those who walk the path of light to comprehend. For us who live in the darkness, the burden of our sins, it is overwhelming. No matter how much good you do, you will never balance out your crimes. It will never be enough. Never.

"Ultear gave her life. Her time. Not for you but for all of Fiore. It was the only way she could wash away the sins of everything she had done. It was her atonement. I… I understand it."

"That's silly. If you want to atone then you should live your life facing your demons every day. Live with the pain and the guilt."

A soft laugh escaped Jellal's lips. "You sound just like Erza."

"She's not wrong."

"She never is." He gave Gray a curious glance, as though sizing him up. "You are more alike than I thought. Unflinching in your beliefs. Unburdened by darkness. Creatures of the light. I would say you are better matched than we are."

A twig cracked. Gray and Jellal spun towards the noise. Erza stood silhouetted against the darkness is a white summer dress, her hair carefully piled on top of her head in an elegant up-do.

"E-Erza," Gray stuttered, seeing the anger marring her features.

"Leave."

He hesitated, wanting to say something, but he changed his mind and left silently. It was not for him to interfere.

Gray had barely disappeared down the forest path when Jellal spoke. "You're angry." There was an almost bemused quality to his voice.

Erza reached up and pulled out the pins holding her hair in place. She flung them away, one by one, her hair uncoiling about her shoulders, as scarlet as her fury. "What do you mean, it will never be enough?" The last pin fell somewhere in the grass, making a dull clink as it landed on a rock. She messed her hair up with fingers that were trembling with anger.

"I am so stupid." She laughed quietly. Bitterly. "It is funny. I have never been angry at you before. I have loved you, hated you, mourned you more than once, but I have never really gotten angry. I should have. It burns away everything else. It is all so clear to me now."

"Erza…"

She raised a hand, cutting him off. "No. Let me speak. I believed you, you know? When you said you had to walk the path of darkness. That we could not be together because of it. That you sought, no, you needed redemption. I believed you." Her voice was shaking. She clenched a fist, hoping it would help steady her. "I thought to myself, foolishly, that when you were done. When you were satisfied. You would come for me and then we would be together.

"But now I see. You are never going to be satisfied. You have been pardoned for your crimes. You helped defeat Zeref and Aconologia. You  _saved_  my life. Milliana has forgiven you. Kagura has forgiven you.  _I_  forgave you. But it is not enough is it? You still cannot forgive yourself. Why? Does it not suit your sense of martyrdom to just forgive yourself and be happy?"

He flinched. It stabbed her heart. Maybe that had been harsher than she had intended. But she wanted him to feel the hurt she had been feeling for the past year. The heartbreak. The sheer futility of it all.

"That is what I thought anyway," she said, her voice growing quieter. "I realised it a few months ago. That there was nothing stopping you from being with me but you. It was not that you did not want me, but that you did not want me enough to be with me. I was deluding myself with the romantic fantasy that we were tragic and star-crossed. But we are not, are we? We are just two people who could not get it together to be with each other.

"And once I realised this, I got tired of waiting for you." Her voice cracked, barely able to speak the lie.

Jellal's lip twisted. He wanted so desperately to make her feel better, but he could not deny the truth of what she was saying.

"You cannot even find it in you to come visit me without contriving a pretext," she carried on. "Who was the excuse for? No one cares if you just came to see me. No one but you.

"I cannot keep living like this. Not knowing when I will see you next. Not knowing  _if_  I will see you." She stopped, suddenly losing steam. She was tired. Tired of the situation. Tired of him. She felt defeated and humiliated. "Maybe it is my fault. I have hung upon your every word for so long, treating you like an untouchable God, that maybe you forgot to see me as your equal. You always get to choose what will or will not happen between us. But not anymore. Because you do not get to decide anymore.  _I_ get to decide. And  _I_  decide not to be with you.

"If you think you will never atone for your sins. If you want to keep walking the path of darkness, then fine. You bear no obligation towards me. I set you free."

She angrily wiped the tears from her eyes and turned to walk away. Finally, as though waking from a slumber, Jellal moved. His arms wrapped around her shoulders as he embraced her back. "I'm sorry." His voice wobbled. "I am sorry, Erza. I could not give you what you wanted. But more than anything, I am sorry I was not honest with you. I-I was not ready. I am still not ready and you are right. I will probably never be ready.

"I have done so much wrong in my life, Erza. More than you will ever know. And no matter how many times I wash my hands, they will never truly be clean. The only thing I have ever done right was to love you, and I made a mess of that too. There is too much history between us. Too much bad blood. I could never forgive myself for the things I have done if I had you, a reminder, staring me in the face every day.

"I see it every time you look at me, the things I have done. I may have been brainwashed, but it was still me in there. Making those decisions. Choosing to hurt people for my cause. And every time you forgive me, I hate myself a little more. I was too much of a coward to tell you. No. I could not even admit it to myself. There is no redemption for me. I will never deserve it.

"I love you, Erza. I cherish you and I always will. You will always be special to me." His voice shook as he spoke the last words and he felt grateful that she could not see his face.

She rested her hands on his arms. Arms that were clinging so tightly around her shoulders. "I know. Thank you. That was all I needed to hear."

"I'm sorry." His voice broke on a sob. "I'm sorry."

He said it over and over because he knew they would never be enough. His tears seeped through the back of her dress. Erza patted his arm soothingly. It was almost ironic to her that she was the one comforting him in this situation, but she had always been the stronger one. They both knew it. That was why she had had to be the person who pulled the plug on… whatever this was. Had been.

She waited till his breathing was a bit calmer before she loosened his grip on her. As she turned to face him, she saw that the sun was coming up. A new dawn was breaking.

She reached up to touch his face. "Thank you, Jellal. For everything." And she did feel thankful. It had been her first love. Her first heartbreak. He had given her these beautiful memories. Memories that would make her stronger. For the first time since she was a child, she felt like she could step forward into the future with no baggage. It was liberating. She felt as light as the cool morning breeze swirling around her skirts. She stood on her tiptoes and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. A goodbye kiss.

"Goodbye Erza. May we meet again on better terms."

"I would like that."

He watched her go, her red hair dappled in sunlight until she disappeared into the trees. He hated himself for it, but he felt a bit relieved. The weight of her hopes no longer rested on his shoulders. No. It had been the weight of their intertwined destiny.

He took a deep breath and turned to watch the lightening sky. It was a new dawn for him too.

* * *

Natsu felt sick. There was something deeply wrong with his stomach. What else could explain the sudden rumbling he felt in his nether regions? "Yo Lucy! Get out of the bathroom already!" he yelled, "Oh no, too late, I'm gonna-"

"You're sitting on the communications lacrima, idiot," Gray said.

"Oh?" Natsu looked down and realised that he  _was_  sitting on the communications lacrima. It was vibrating vigorously. Someone was calling. He placed it on the bed so everyone could look in and swiped to answer the call. "Hello!"

A bright pink flower filled the screen, a smiley face drawn across its yellow centre. "Hello! Am I speaking to Natsu and the others?"

"Woah! Come see this Happy. A talking flower!"

"Ho ho, yes indeed, I am a talking flower! How are you?" The flower suddenly jerked off-screen, replaced by a familiar craggy face. "Kidding! Just kidding! Plants can't talk!"

"Is he sure about that?" Charle whispered in an aside to Wendy. Warrod Sequen's arboreal looks were confusing at best, nightmarish at worst.

"Here Natsu, the bathroom is all yours," Lucy said, stepping out in a towel.

Onscreen, Warrod's eyes perked up. "What's this Lucy, you have an ugly red pimple on your bum!"

Lucy gave a little yelp and stared twisting around to see, before she realised that her butt was covered by her towel and that the biggest prankster she had ever met was onscreen.

Right on cue, Warrod said, "Kidding! Just kidding!"

"Don't answer the phone when I'm in just a towel, moron!" She flung a pillow at Natsu and hurriedly pulled on a robe.

"Pardon me, Warrod-sama," Erza interrupted. Gray watched her out of the corner of his eye. She had been unusually happy since she had gotten back in the early hours that morning. "What is the purpose of your call?"

"Oh that's right! Silly me. I wanted to invite all of you to an event that will be held in Crocus in one month's time."

"Sorry jicchan, but we are on a job here," Natsu said.

"Oh, there's nothing to say you can't take a little break. It's a long job after all. Besides, you didn't even hear what the event is!"

"Oh? What is it then?" Erza asked.

"I am to marry!"

There was a strained pause as everyone waited for the punchline. Finally, Charle ventured, "Kidding, just kidding?"

"Ho ho ho. No."

There was another pause as everyone processed that bombshell.

"WHAT?"

* * *

"You know," Gray said over dinner a week later, "I've been thinking. Maybe a holiday is not such a bad idea after all."

Wendy looked up from the book she had borrowed from Tekka's library earlier that day. She had spent the past week looking up poisons, hoping to find a clue to permanently cure Natsu. The skin around his neck was still dark and grey, though his scarf covered it up for the most part. "Hmm?"

"Why would you say that?" Erza asked.

"Just. We've been on the Quest for two months now. That's way longer than any of the jobs we've been on before."

"Speak for yourself, Erza's been on lots of six month jobs," Happy pointed out.

"Hm. That's true. But I often wished I could take a break."

"I miss the guild," Wendy said. The others nodded in agreement.

"I could access the books in Fairy Tail's library. I still have not found a translation for the tablet we were given by Vega. Master might even know a little about the rules of the Quest that the Tiger mentioned," Lucy said.

"And I could consult with Porlyursica-san about the poison!"

"I've been thinking too," Natsu said.

"Always a dangerous pastime," Gray replied.

"Oh yeah, you want to go, bread-butt?"

"Who are you calling bread-butt? If anyone looks like bread here, it's you!"

"Just because I'm not pasty, milk-bread-butt!"

"Alright, that's enough." Erza punched them both in the head, stopping the brawl before it started. She flashed an apologetic look at the other customers in the restaurant. "You were saying Natsu?"

"I fing fere feeng fahoad," Natsu said. He stopped a spit a loose tooth out. He held it back in place. "Heh Fendy, fiff fiff fah me."

Wendy held her hands up to his face, a blue-green glow enveloping it as his tooth settled back into his gums. Natsu gnashed his teeth a couple of times, checking the fit. "Thanks. As I was saying, I think we're being followed."

The others looked at him in surprise. He shrugged. "Think about it. They knew where we were, what kind of magic we use, what we could possibly want in exchange for quitting the Quest and every now and again, I get the feeling we are being watched." He yawned and stretched back in his chair.

Erza understood what he was up to. She gave a fake laugh and grinned at her companions, "So are we being watched right now?"

"Maybe," Natsu grinned back.

"Why is everyone grinning?" Happy asked, his teeth gritted in what more closely resembled a grimace.

"Is this why you want to go on holiday, Gray?" Erza asked.

Gray beamed at her, "Yeah, precisely. I thought we were being followed too."

"Come to think of it," Charle smiled garishly, "If we go back to Ishgar, we can check out the map Jellal gave us."

"Why? Did you foresee something?" Lucy's cheeks were hurting from all the fake smiling they were doing.

"No. It's common sense, isn't it? The Snake only injured Natsu and Wendy. They have only one thing in common. And Aconologia shared that trait too. The more I think of it, the better the idea seems."

"True. And it is not like we have found any leads here. That decides it then!" Erza exclaimed, "We are going to Ishgar!"

* * *

Lucy almost wept as she handed over the lacrima-key to the jeep. "Treat her well, OK?" She had only had the vehicle for a few weeks but she had grown oddly attached to it.

"Yeah, sure lady. Whatever," the auto-salesman said. He handed over a sack of Asteroids and unsubtly indicated for them to leave his shop.

Lucy sank down with a sigh on the footpath outside. "We still don't have enough money for passage back to Hargeon."

They had checked out of their hotel in Tekka that morning and driven down to Elmina. Her eyes had nearly popped out of her head when the bill had been presented to them. "So many zeroes," she whispered, still traumatised. The Tiger had done considerable damage to the room, and inflation meant the price for the repairs had been far higher than she had anticipated. With a snort she realised that it was a rare occasion that Natsu and Gray had not caused any of the damage themselves. 'Maybe they've learned," she thought. She saw the arguing duo go crashing into a cabbage cart by the side of the road. "My cabbages!" the man cried.

'Or maybe not.'

They had even less money left after compensating the cabbage salesman. "Maybe we can get jobs?" Wendy suggested.

"Erza, what about your secret emergency fund?" Charle asked. On their first mission together, Erza had drilled it into Wendy and Charle's heads that one must always carry some extra money hidden in their luggage in case of unforeseen circumstances.

Erza looked a bit sheepish. "I spent that on the motion sickness lacrima."

"Oh, that reminds me, did someone take it out of the car?" Lucy asked.

"Do not fret," Erza brandished the crystal globe, "I was not going to let Natsu and Wendy travel for three weeks without it."

Natsu materialised in front of her, kneeling on the ground and bowing repeatedly. "You're a Goddess! God Erza!"

Erza smiled smugly, enjoying the praise. She spotted Wendy off to the side. "You are not going to join in, Wendy?"

Wendy sweatdropped. "God Erza!" she cheered half-heartedly.

"Still, that does not solve the problem of how we are going to get the money for the journey. Say, Lucy, did you read anything about pirate ships on this coast?"

"Pirate. Ships…?"

"They are quite easy to commandeer. They are always looking for a firm hand at the helm."

"You could do that. Or you could just come with us," a new voice said. They all whirled towards the sound. "So how about it…nee-san?" A tall, muscular blond man with tourmaline brown skin leaned against the wall, tossing a cabbage playfully. A single earring dangled at his ear, swaying in the breeze.

Behind the newcomer was an unusual looking man, with a rectangular cleft chin. "Hope you have been living dandily, Erza," he said, tipping his hat.

"Shou! Wally!" She barrelled into them, knocking them over with the force of her hug. "What are you doing here? How are you? How have you been? What have you been up to all these years?"

Shou laughed, hugging her back. "Slow down, nee-san. One question at a time."

"Woah look! It's Blocky!" Natsu ran over to greet Wally.

Wendy and Charle exchanged puzzled glances. "Um, Gray-san, who are they?"

"Old friends of Erza's."

Lucy sidled up to him. "Is it just me, or was the Shou you remember much shorter than that?"

"Aye, and much less buff," Happy added.

"It has been nine years after all," Gray shrugged. Though he did have to admit, Shou had had quite the glow-up.

Erza looked over at them and grinned. "Looks like we have our ride home, everyone!"

* * *

She watched them go; standing high on a hilltop just outside Elmina, with a telescope in her hand. Her tongue flickered out to taste the salty sea breeze. The winds were blowing southerly. Good. It looked like the wizards were giving up. Hebiko packed her telescope away with a decisive snap. The dragon slayers would leave. The Quest would be reset. And maybe, just maybe, her Master would smile again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The temptation of making it 525600 minutes was strong, but alas it did not fit the timeline.  
> Are Jerza too OOC? They say more in this fic than they've said in all of Fairy Tail. But idk, it needed to be said. These two rely too heavily on subtext. No wonder they've made zero progress in 500 odd chapters of the manga.
> 
> Also hah! The reunion I've been waiting for was the one with Shou and Wally. Wally has a BROTHER. How did Mashima forget him?
> 
> Future updates will be a lot slower than they have been so far. Sorry about that. Please leave a review if you feel like it :)


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Natsu travels back to Ishgar to attend Warrod's... wedding? There is a development in one of our main character's relationships. Gajevy make an announcement. Ecchi content ahead, you have been forewarned!

The wind skimmed the surface of the water, folding it into delicate foaming crests that shone as white as the moon. Gray stared out at the inky vastness. The sea at night was as dark as Ur's eyes. He unlooped the cord around his neck, eyeing the glowing vial that dangled at the dip in the string. "Tell me. Am I doing the right thing?" The wind carried the words away, unheard.

"Can't sleep?" Lucy asked, stepping out of the pool of light cast by the single lamp on deck.

Gray shook his head. "You?"

"I was with Natsu and Wendy. Natsu's going a bit stir crazy, being confined to his cabin for the entire trip. I think he might set the boat on fire." She made an embarrassed face. The motion-sickness lacrima had a limited sphere of influence, which ensured the poor dragon slayers spent much of their time indoors, below deck.

"He wouldn't be Natsu if he didn't at least destroy something on this trip."

Lucy giggled. "Maybe Shou and Wally will give us a discount on the cost of repairs because of Erza."

Gray gave her a wan smile and turned back to the water. Somewhere a sailor shouted orders in a language they did not understand. Lucy rested her crossed arms on the railing and said, "A Jewel for them."

"A Jewel for what?"

"Your thoughts. You look more serious than usual."

"It's nothing."

Lucy made a humming noise and shrugged lightly. The sea breeze was gentle and cool; it soothed the ache in her heart. Maybe that was why Gray was standing here too. Something about the tranquillity of the night sea drew troubled souls to it, and Mavis knew, the group was more troubled than most. Hadn't she just left Erza on the starboard side, staring equally pensively at the water?

Gray's low murmur shook her from her thoughts. "Have you ever," he asked, "known the right thing to do, and yet somehow found yourself unable to do it?"

Lucy waited for him to elaborate. "Something that your head knows is the right thing, but your heart refuses to agree," he continued, "And it doesn't even know why. It just screams 'no.'"

She drummed her fingers along the wooden railing as she pondered the question. "Sometimes, when I'm anxious, I find myself unable to do things that I rationally know I must do. My heart just vetoes whatever carefully reasoned logic my brain presents. Maybe because it feels safer with what is familiar. So it chooses to tread water and fight the current, instead of letting itself be swept along over the waterfall. Even if my brain knows that there's treasure at the bottom."

Gray shook his head. "It's not that. I don't think so anyway. I'm not anxious. If anything, not doing the right thing is probably more treacherous." The waves sloshed against the hull of the ship and he searched for a coded message in their easy rhythm. Could Ur hear him? Did she have an answer?

"At first I thought it was because I did not want to miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime chance and that I was being selfish. But the more I think about it the more certain I am that it's not that. My heart knows, just as strongly as my brain does, that I shouldn't do it, even if I might be unable to live with the consequences."

Lucy noticed belatedly, the bright green glow emanating from Gray's clenched fist. Comprehension dawned in her eyes. However, merely understanding the problem rarely helps one solve it. "Maybe it's a premonition," she offered. She winced at the feebleness of her suggestion.

Gray scoffed. "I'm not Cana."

"Let's call it instinct then. Or a gut feeling."

"Instinct eh?" Gray rolled the word around his mouth, as if testing it. "And how do you know if your instincts are right?"

"You don't. You just have to see what happens."

He snorted. "That's helpful."

That made her a little peeved. "Look Gray," she said, "There's time before you have to make a decision. Have you even considered that there might be more than two options? Instead of wallowing, think if there's a way to achieve both your goals." She gave an irritated huff and left.

Gray gawped after her. It was not that he had never thought of it, but the surety of her tone made him wonder if maybe he had not been trying hard enough. It was true, he had done nothing to solve the problem except tell Jellal about it. Perhaps, instead of brooding over the morality of his choice, he needed to set about making sure it was the right one. With newfound determination, he stowed the Potion of Abdication in his pocket and strode off.

* * *

Lucy stalked away from Gray. Maybe she had been a bit harsh on him, but her mind was still muddled from what had happened earlier that evening. Her cheeks flamed as her mind flashed back to the incident. The motion-sickness lacrima had been running low on magic, so she had insisted on tucking Natsu and Wendy into bed. The lacrima would take at least a day to recharge and she had thought that it would be easier on them if they slept through most of it.

Wendy had already been fast asleep when she had sat down on the edge of Natsu's bed. Little beads of sweat had dotted his forehead, evidence that the lacrima was almost out of magic. "Lucy," he had muttered, not quite awake and yet not quite asleep either. He had wriggled off his blanket and said, "It's too hot!" His fingers had plucked futilely at the buttons on his waistcoat, not coordinated enough to undo them.

"Let me." She had gently grabbed his agitated hands and moved them away, before proceeding to undo the buttons. Damn, Lucy felt her pulse picking up just at the memory of it. How she had diligently avoided touching his skin as she slowly undid button after button. How his golden, tanned skin had revealed itself inch by careful inch, his chiselled body somehow more beautiful when unveiled this way as compared to the thousands of times she had seen him shirtless. How she had been unable to resist brushing a finger against his abdomen, so hard, so firm, as she had undone the last button.

She had suddenly become aware of a heat behind her elbow, something that burned hotter even than Natsu's usual elevated temperature. She had turned to see an unusual fold in Natsu's trousers, the fabric not tight enough to tell her if it was what she had thought it was. She had wondered if she could 'accidentally' brush her elbow against it, to confirm her suspicions. Her mouth had gone dry at the thought.

"Lucy," Natsu had whispered. She had dragged her eyes away from the apex of his thighs and refocused on his face. The look in his eyes had made her feel things in a place she had not been previously aware could even feel things. He had sat up in bed, his hot hands coming to rest on her bare waist. Her hands had automatically pushed his unbuttoned waistcoat off his shoulders, just seconds before he pulled her onto his lap. Yup, her suspicions had been correct. She could feel him, firm and fiery under her thighs.

Lucy vaguely remembered being grateful that Wendy had been in the bunk above them and already fast asleep. They had relative privacy for whatever it was they had been doing. Maybe it had been a bit weird, the place and the position, but Lucy had been unable of forming coherent thought beyond the words, 'Natsu' and 'want.' Even those had flown out of her head when he had begun to nuzzle her collarbone.

She had bit back a whimper as one of his hands had slipped under her to pull her closer, while the other had swept up to the middle of her back, angling her better as she had pressed herself into him. Her stupid, tight skirt kept her legs pressed together, even when she wanted so badly to straddle him and feel him against her most intimate of areas. Twisted sideways, her legs dangling off the edge of the bed, she had squirmed in an attempt to get more contact. The low growl Natsu had let out at that had thrilled her.

His head had dipped into the crook of her neck and his tongue had darted out to taste her skin. He had kissed her there once, before moving on to the shell of her ear. His scorching tongue had traced the whorls of her ear before sliding into the centre. Embarrassment flooded her as she remembered how that had made her rub herself against him like a cat, seeking whatever friction she could get.

Finally, his lips had traced a path along her cheek, to her aching lips. His face had lifted away from hers, to meet her eyes. She had nodded at him and licked her lips in anticipation. Lust had clouded his eyes when they had followed the darting motion of her tongue. His head had tilted and his lips had been slowly moving towards her own… when suddenly his cheeks puffed had up and he turned green. The motion-sickness lacrima had run out. He had flopped down onto the bed, his spine deflating just as other parts of him had deflated. "Sorry," he had murmured weakly before passing out.

Lucy kicked her bedstead in frustration. She felt shame at her own wantonness but also an extreme, almost antsy sense of dissatisfaction. Of course she had been mean to Gray. He was being a whiny baby and she had bigger problems to solve. Such as the fact that she was turning into one of those sex-crazed heroines from Erza's ecchi novels. She lay down in bed and stared at the wooden ceiling, wondering just how many pairs of her underwear would be ruined before she and Natsu managed to share their first kiss.

* * *

The carriage tilted to the left as it took the curve in the road faster than was prudent. Crocus loomed ahead, the spires of the palace coming into view, shining emerald in the morning sun.

Dread settled in the pit of Erza's stomach. The lightness and relief she had felt after her conversation with Jellal had lasted a surprisingly long while. She had even managed to talk to Wally and Shou about him and how he had changed without too much distress. Yet, the moment she set foot on Fiorian soil, it occurred to her that she might see him again at Warrod-sama's wedding. She could feel both her defences and resolve crumbling. Afterall, she and Jellal had parted ways once before. That had lasted for all of three days until she had seen him again at the Grand Magic Games. Was it mere coincidence that their next meeting would occur at the site of their previous reconciliation?

She should not miss him. How could she miss someone whom she barely saw in the first place? Nothing had really changed. She would see him as sporadically as ever. And yet. Her heart hurt. She missed him more fiercely now than she had the months he had been locked up in Era. It was not just the Jellal of the present that had been taken away from her, but the Jellal of the future too. Of her future. Their future together. She blinked back the tears that had snuck their way out her closed cage of emotions. No. She had made the right choice. The pain she felt was unbearable, but it would fade. A lump sum as compared to the steady annuity she would have subscribed to if she had not done what she did. She had to believe in that.

One of the stallions whinnied loudly as they drew up to the palace. She was not sure how he had managed it, given the animosity between the Magic Council and the royal family but Warrod-sama had convinced Queen Hisui to give over rooms in the palace to the guests of the wedding. One very loud exclamation of surprise, an ensuing cacophony, twenty-eight cries of 'Gray-sama!' and a brief flood later, the seven of them were shown to their rooms. Wally and Shou chose to stay in a hotel in the city despite Erza's assurances that they would be welcome at the palace. She did, however manage to convince them to come to the reception after the wedding. After all, she had a surprise reunion planned for Wally. A smile crept onto her face.

"Nice to see someone's feeling better," Gray remarked dryly.

"Hn. You are a fine one to talk, I am not the one who was moping around the ship for 3 weeks. Your negative energy was so strong that Plue fell sick."

"That's right, you were walking around with a grey cloud above your head," Charle said.

"A grey cloud for Gray!" Happy exclaimed.

"Oh ho ho, good joke Happy!" Natsu said.

"You wouldn't know a good joke if it lit itself on fire and appeared on your dinnerplate."

"Want to come closer and repeat that, droopy eyes?"

"I'd be happy to do it as many times as it takes to penetrate that thick skull of yours, squinty eyes."

Natsu and Gray butted heads, literally and metaphorically, neither willing to lose to the other. Erza sighed and closed her eyes. If things started getting out of hand, she would intercede. But until then, she deserved a little nap.

* * *

"Dearly beloved-kabo," the pumpkin headed man began, "we are gathered here today to-" His voice broke off and he squinted at the sheet of paper in his hand. The erstwhile king of Fiore turned to the curtain behind him and gave it a pained look. Well, as pained a look a carved pumpkin could give.

"Go on, go on!" The fierce whisper from behind the curtain was clearly audible throughout the hall. "Keep going!"

The pumpkin turned back to the paper in his hand, seemingly at a loss to continue. The gathered crowd grew restless, heads began turning towards the entryway, wondering if the mystery bride for the event would turn up. The only guests on the bride's side of the aisle were a pair of rosy-cheeked farmers wearing leather shorts and suspenders.

"Fine, I'll do it!" Warrod stepped out from behind the curtain in flowing robes. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today so that your favourite council member-"

He was interrupted by a few murmurs of 'I like Hyberion-sama better' and one very loud 'You'd better say Jura is your favourite of I'll spin all of you!'

Warrod cleared his throat pointedly, "So that he can marry..." he paused dramatically. "This wine and this cheese!" He waved his arms with a flourish and tiny vines sprung from the floor and drew back the curtains. To his left was a table piled high with rounds of pale yellow cheese. On the other side of the dais was a proud pyramid of bottles. "After over a year of talks with the Alakitasian government we have finally agreed upon the terms of the peace treaty. As of this morning, Ishgar and Alakitasia, for the first time in history, are allies!"

At this, one of the farmers on the bride's side of the aisle snapped a finger. Rivulets of sand began to run down their faces, revealing Ajeel and his grandfather. Another finger-snap later, the empty pews were filled with people. Brandish stepped out from behind a pillar at the side of the room. Her eyes met Lucy's and she gave a little wave.

As one, the surviving members of the Spriggan 12 reached across the aisle to shake the hands of the Fiorian wizards they had battled a little over a year ago. Whooping and cheering erupted in the hall. Ajeel and Jura pressed their hands together, performing a Unison Raid that made fingers of earth filter out through the cracks in the stone floor and deliver glasses to all the attendees. Warrod's plant magic helped to uncork and pour the wine. Lucy noticed the label 'Pinot No-war' and grimaced at the pun.

"A toast," said Ajeel, "To a long-lasting and prosperous peace between Ishgar and Alakitasia!"

The roar of 'Hear! Hear!'s muffled the sound of clinking glasses. "Now," said Warrod, draining his glass, "to celebrate the only way we Ishgarians know how. Let's drink!"

* * *

Six hours later, the party was still raging on. Gray swirled the dregs of wine in his glass. It was not his preferred drink, but it was alcoholic, so it would do. On the bench beside him, Erza picked listlessly through her slice of cake, mashing it into a pudding of cake crumbs and icing. It was the first time he had seen her _not_ eat strawberry cake. Her previous joy and excitement at reuniting first Wally and his brother, Hoteye and then Milliana and her old comrades, had worn off. She had laughed with them and made merry, and even though her joy had been genuine, Gray could see the undercurrent of anxiety and sadness on her face. Now that the other four had left, she would look around the room every now and then with a curious mixture of hope and dread on her face. Gray would have comforted her, if he had not been looking for the same man himself.

"Gray-sama, would you like to dance with Juvia?" A familiar presence hovered by his shoulder. Erza looked up at the sound and her bleak eyes met Gray's briefly. Later, he would blame the wine. In honesty, it was the culmination of years of guilt; staggered one after the other by the women who had sacrificed their lives for his undeserving soul, and the despair on the face of the only person who had ever made him want to sacrifice his.

"Juvia. We need to talk."

* * *

"G-gray-sama,"she started, her voice tailing away as Gray began walking towards the exit. His stride was so swift and so sure that she had to sprint to catch up with him. "G-Gray-sama, what's wrong?"

He lead her out of the hall, through a corridor and then down another. Juvia found her feet slowing of their own accord. She suspected she would finally get the answer she had been waiting for today. Faced with the certainty of the prospect, her wild imagination was at a loss as to predict what was going to happen. The expression on her beloved hero's face had been inscrutable. Something in her told her to stop, turn back and run away. That maybe she would not get the answer she hoped for. But her feet would not do that either. Steadily, they marched forward, one step at a time. Maybe Meredy was right. Her whole life revolved around Gray-sama, so much so that her own body disobeyed her when she asked it to walk away from him.

She finally caught up with him in the dingy corridor that turned away from the main bulk of the building, leading to the kitchens. "Gray-sama, please stop. What is it?"

"Juvia," he said, his back to her, "I know I promised you an answer, and that I have failed twice now in giving it to you."

"It's OK. Juvia knows it is hard for Gray-sama. Juvia is happy to wait."

"No!" He whirled around to face her, his tone harsh. "It's not fair to you. I- I have decided. I will give you your answer today."

Her heart thundered in her ears. No. She was not ready for it. The expression on his face was too different from the dewy-eyed rhapsodising of her daydreams. Surely, waiting indefinitely was better than the definiteness of rejection?

"Juvia." He brought his fingers up to her face, their tips barely grazing her cheek, as though he wanted to cup her face but could not bring himself to commit to the action. "I… I care for you. A lot. You are very important to me."

There was that thundering again. Could one person's heart really cause such a racket? Maybe they were setting off fireworks somewhere in the palace grounds. She placed her hand lightly upon the one that hovered by her face, not daring to rest it on his lest he feel the weight of her hopes. Hopes that had grown exponentially in the last ten seconds.

"I- I don't know if I love you."

Crack. His words burned through her. If one stands in a thunderstorm, one is bound to get hit.

"But, I would like to try."

No. That heat had not been a thunderbolt, it had been the gentle parting of the clouds and the warmth of the smiling sun on her face. The feeling he gave her, when her whole life had been nothing but rain.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is," he paused, uncertainty flickering across his features, "would you like to go out on a date?"

He thought she was too stunned to reply. In actuality, she had clamped her lips shut until she could find a way to express the sheer joy coursing through her veins in a more decorous fashion than a series of whoops and cartwheels. However, she could not help the grin that nearly split her face in two. "Yes. YES! A thousand times yes!"

She threw her arms around him ardently and tried to ignore the fact that his hands came to rest on her back a little too late and a little too tentatively for everything to be truly alright.

* * *

He scanned the crowd from the balcony, choosing to remain detached from society, accustomed to walking in the shadows. He spotted the dark blonde head of Dimaria Yesta in the southwest corner of the room, where she sat with her girlfriend; her arm draped across her waist and her head resting against the spiky headband Brandish always wore. Good. Target acquired. Now to quickly speak with her and get out of the place.

His eyes flickered involuntarily towards a familiar red head, bent low in contemplation over the mutilated carcass of what had once been strawberry cake. She had been the first person he had noticed when he arrived. Well, it was only natural, she was pretty hard to miss. Her hair hung down straight and unadorned past her shoulders. It made an odd contrast with the elegant evening gown she wore. He thought back to the last time he had seen her with her hair up and he winced. Maybe the hairstyle was a more deliberate choice than he had first thought.

He knew he should just find a moment to speak with Dimaria and then leave. He knew it was over between them. Heck, he was choking on all the things he knew, all the things he should do and how poorly they aligned with the things he wanted to do. But, they could still be friends, right? He found himself standing next to her before he knew what was happening. The faint tinge of hope in her otherwise dismayed expression made his heart flutter and then fall.

"Hi."

"Jellal."

"Would you like to dance?"

Erza was already out of her seat with her hand in his outstretched one before her expression faltered. "No."

"Friends can share a dance, can they not?" he asked fruitlessly. They had never been friends. He had loved her from the moment he had seen her, tiny and scratched but refusing to cry as they tossed her into their shared cell in the Tower.

The muscle in her jaw worked furiously for a minute. "We cannot keep doing this." It pained her to say the words but one of them had to make the tough choices. "We cannot keep coming together after deciding to be apart."

"It's just a dance," he said, knowing full well it was more than that.

Her eyes flashed to his and he knew that she knew as well. "Do you remember, when we are at the beach before the Grand Magic Games?"

He nodded silently.

"You still came to Crocus for the Games. To keep an eye on me. You did the same in the war against Alakitasia. Even now, you are probably thinking of the quest and its dangers. You want to protect me, so you appear. But you need to know two things Jellal. One, I will not always be in danger and two, I can take care of myself." She slipped her hand out of his and looked away. "You need to stop using it as an excuse to come back to me. Not if you cannot give me the things I want."

His outstretched hand fell limply to his side and he swallowed audibly. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"I am too."

Their eyes met and held, exchanging emotions that were beyond words.

"Will we ever be friends again?" he asked.

"Someday." Her voice was heavy with surety. She smiled.

His reached out to tuck a stray strand of her hair behind her ear but stopped himself just in time. "Then this really is goodbye then."

"For now."

"For now," he repeated softly before he turned and walked away.

Erza waited till he was out of sight before she allowed herself to crumble. She clutched the back of her chair, hardly able to stand, her eyes swimming with tears. It was all she could do to follow when Lucy came to discreetly lead her away.

* * *

"What do you mean you're not coming?" Natsu demanded, slamming his hands on the table. The sound was barely audible above the din of the guildhall.

Gray scratched his neck. "Look, it's not that I don't want to come. It's just that the timing isn't right."

"And why exactly would that be?" Erza set a plate bearing a slice of strawberry cake on the table and sat down beside him.

Gray mumbled something that was barely audible.

"What?!" Natsu yelled, his sensitive dragon slayer ears picking up the words anyway. He looked fit to combust. "Why would you do that?!"

"What do you mean, why?!"

"Why would you willingly sign up for that? Did someone dare you to do it? Why else would you want to spend time with-"

Gray shot to his feet. "Watch what you're saying about my g-gou-girrr…" his lips contorted. He was not quite able to bring himself to say the word. He gave up with a huff.

"Gray has a girlfriend, Gray has a girlfriend!" Natsu jeered.

Understanding flashed in Erza's eyes. "You have a date," she stated matter-of-factly.

Gray turned away from the fight he had almost started with Natsu. He flopped onto the bench, the fight suddenly going out of him. "Yeah," he said warily.

"I see," Erza said.

Her first instinct was the punch him. How dare he put his love life above the mission? Her second instinct was also to punch him. How dare he flaunt his newfound relationship in front of her heartbroken self? She ignored them both and settled for the third. "Fine. Then we will go without you."

"Um," Wendy said hesitantly. Erza had almost forgotten she had been sitting there with them. "Actually Lucy-san said she would like to spend some time in the library at the guild. She found some books to help translate the tablet."

"Fine. Then we will go without her as well." Erza was getting a little impatient. They had been hanging around the guild for a week already. With nothing to do, she found her thoughts increasingly focusing on Jellal. She needed something else to think about. She needed to get moving.

"I'm not going without Lucy," Natsu declared flatly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Fine then! Wendy, you and I shall do it. Let us take Charle and Happy as well."

"Um, actually Cheria invited Charle and me to Margaret town to spend some time together."

What the hell, did no one else remember they were on a mission? "Fine! Happy!" she shouted, drawing the attention of the blue cat who was sitting several tables away. "You and I are going to follow Jellal's map. We leave tomorrow!"

The fiery glint in her eye sent Happy flying into Natsu's arms. "Scary! Natsu, Erza is so scary, help me."

"FINE. Then you don't need to come either! I will go alone!" Erza got to her feet and looked around the guildhall urgently. Finally spotting her target she yelled, "Lily! Come spar with me!" She needed to do something, anything, or she was going to go mad.

Lily looked up from the kiwi he was munching on. "In some time. I am eating." He looked starry-eyed at the kiwi in his hand and sighed.

Frustrated at being thwarted yet again, Erza flipped the table. It went sailing straight into Elfman's head. "Hey watch what you're doing!" He leapt up, knocking over his table in turn and sending it flying into Wakaba. In no time a brawl had broken out.

Mirajane watched Erza curiously. It was unusual to see the guild's disciplinarian instigating a fight. She carefully wiped the smudges off a beer tankard and wondered if she should intervene. She was saved the trouble when Gajeel and Levy entered the hall.

"Solid Script: Silence!" The word spun in the air, creating a small vortex that sucked away all the sound from the room. Faced with the sudden quiet, the members of the guild stopped whatever they were doing.

"Gajeel and I have an announcement," Levy said. "We are going to take advantage of the fact that Natsu and all are back."

"Gihi, that's right, we're pushing up the wedding," Gajeel continued, "And all of you are going to help us get ready for it."

"When is the new date?" Mirajane piped up, knowing that most of the planning responsibilities would fall to her.

Gajeel and Levy looked at each other and grinned. "In two months!"

Her mental to-do list began to rewrite itself, page after page slotting into an imaginary binder, overwhelming and crushing her. The task was so mammoth that her synapses overloaded and she did the only thing that was sensible to do in the situation. Mira fainted clean away.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only ever said Warrod was to marry. I never said he was getting married. My word choices are deliberate y'all. There are CLUES in them haha.
> 
> Agh, sorry for the late update. I moved to a new city, started work in a new lab, battled the world's flithiest toilet (and lost)... yeah things have been a bit hectic. I work 12 hours a day almost, coz science is HARD y'all, and when I get home I barely have time to eat before I crash.  
> Buuuuut new city = no friends, so I'm quietly hopeful that my weekends will now be free for writing! I want to finish this story before the year is out... so. (Also don't worry, I'm only in this city till December so I don't really mind not having friends). Thanks to the people who left kudos. You're the meaning in my life, you're the inspiration. Leave a review if you feel up to it :). Until next time!


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gray and Juvia have their first date. Time crawls by. A new enemy lurks ahead.

Juvia worried the straw between her lips, her eyes darting from one place to the next. "It's quite warm for October, isn't it Gray-sama?" she offered weakly.

Juvia was on a date. A highly anticipated, cannot-believe-it-is-actually-happening date. And it was going badly.

She had been on her fair share of bad dates; a particularly memorable one that involved a toupee that turned out to be a ferret, came to mind. Yet, even that had been less awkward than the one she was currently on.

She eyed the boy sitting across from her, equally ill at ease. He pounced upon the conversational gambit. "Yes! Quite warm!" he faked a bright tone.

"Yes."

"Yeah."

The pair lapsed into silence again. Juvia's eyes drifted to where her left hand had been lying limply on the table for the past forty minutes. Left because Gray was right-handed. She had made it so easy for him. Why were his hands still in his pockets? He was sitting down! Her cheeks puffed out as her internal monologue went on a diatribe on the unfairness of the world. Meredy had warned her that her expectations were to high. So, she had lowered them. Considerably. And it was still excruciating.

"So. Here we are," Gray said for the tenth time.

Juvia wanted to scream. She bit her lip and smiled vaguely at Gray.

The two of them nearly collapsed with relief when a blur of red and grey dashed into the café. Finally, something to talk about.

"One strawberry cheesecake. To go," she barked at the man behind the counter.

"Hey Erza!" Gray called, "come join us!"

"Ah Gray. Juvia. I did not see you there." She leaned over the counter and caught the baker's eye. "Do not bother packing it, I have changed my mind. And I will take a cup of tea as well."

She dragged a chair outside to Gray and Juvia's table and dropped a heavy binder on it. Juvia squeaked and snatched her hand away just in time. "I am so sorry Juvia, I did not see your hand there!" Erza exclaimed.

'That would make two of you,' Juvia thought bitterly. How had he found a way to make their date worse? Gray-sama really was remarkable.

"Erza-san, you look like you are really busy," Juvia said politely.

"All the more reason to take a break!" Gray declared, his eyes taking on a somewhat manic gleam.

"I suppose I can spare a few minutes. I am helping organise Levy and Gajeel's wedding." Erza tapped the binder smartly.

Juvia watched numbly as Gray and Erza fell into easy conversation. Her Gray-sama was even flipping through the binder and offering suggestions.

What was so wrong with her that Gray-sama could not talk to her like this? She felt metaphorical rainclouds start to gather overhead. Meredy's voice echoed in her ears, telling her not to be so harsh on herself. This was a first date and given Juvia and Gray-sama's history, it was bound to be awkward. It would be fine. It would be fine!

* * *

"I am going to collect some timber next; Mira and Levy want to see a few samples before they settle on a final wedding canopy. I wonder if Natsu will be free to help."

"Why bother fire-freak? Juvia and I are free, we'd be happy to help." He needed to have taken his foot out of his mouth about five minutes ago, but somehow, he kept going, "It would be nice to help them have a romantic wedding!"

This last sentence was so uncharacteristic for him that Erza cocked her head and gave him a strange look.

Juvia's chair scraped along the cobblestones as she stood. "Meredy and Juvia are going on a mission this afternoon." She checked her bare wrist. "Yes, Juvia is already quite late. Juvia will see you later, Erza-san. Thank you for the date, Gray-sama." She smiled brightly.

Gray pretended not to notice the tears suspended in the corners of her eyes.

The words filtered into Erza's brain a second too late. "D-d-date?" Her head snapped from Juvia's retreating back to Gray's face and back. "W-w-wait! Juvia!"

Gray put out an arm to stop her from chasing Juvia down. "Let her go," he said gruffly.

"Why did you ask me to join you if you were on a date?" Erza glared at him.

"I don't know," Gray whined, burying his head in his hands. "Let's just get the bill and go."

Later, as Erza hefted 80 board feet of timber onto a cart, she ventured to ask again. "It is considered impolite to invite a third person to your date, Gray."

"Have a lot of dating experience, do you?" he quipped, placing a much smaller pile of logs on the cart beside her.

"Do you?" she replied softly.

Gray turned away to hide his reddened cheeks. A few misconstrued pictures in Sorcerer's Weekly and his close friendship with Loke had earned him an undeserved and inaccurate reputation as a ladies' man. Truth be told, Juvia was his first girlfriend and he had no idea what to do with her.

"I'll talk if you tell me why you are suddenly organising Gajeel and Levy's entire wedding."

"I am not organising the entire wedding. Mira is the real mastermind…" her voice tailed off as Gray gave her a sceptical look. "Fine," she said.

Gray turned back to his work with a satisfied snort. Erza had selected a few trees from the edge of East Forest that she considered suitable. He swung his ice-axe into a thick wooden trunk, the dull rhythm of the work lulling him into calm.

"I am sad."

He almost swung the axe into his foot.

"All the time," Erza continued. "I am sad all the time. This," she gestured abstractedly, "helps."

He stared at her awkwardly as she calmly continued chopping a felled tree into logs.

"So," she said, "your date with Juvia."

Gray stripped off his shirt and heaved the axe into the tree again. "I didn't know what to say to her. It's what she's wanted for so long and when it came down to it, I just- I choked. Maybe I made a mistake. I don't think I can do this."

"Idiot." Erza's armoured fist swung into the side of his head. "Do you not know that the stakes are equally high for her?"

"Ouch! What the hell, Erza?" Gray grumbled, rubbing the side of his head.

"Go to her and apologise. Try again." She gave the tree trunk a hard shove and it broke away cleanly. It fell to the forest floor with a thud. "Do something you are more comfortable with. Take on a mission together. Whispering sweet nothings into her ear on a sunlit terrace is not you. Be who you are, not who someone else wants you to be."

She stepped over the fallen tree, neatly avoiding its branches. "And put some on clothes while you do."

* * *

Summer coalesced slowly to autumn; the honeyed days hardening to burnished amber. Time sludged slowly by, its heaviness reflected in Erza's eyelids every morning as she woke to an ebbing sun. The same heaviness she felt in her heart.

But one morning her eyes snapped open with the first brush of sunlight. She sprang out of bed and ran to the window to see dawn breaking out over Magnolia and for the first time, in a very long time, she could breathe easily. Gone was the weight that had been pressing into her chest. Gone was the sheer tiredness that had embedded itself, bone deep in her limbs.

Erza had heard people say that time heals all wounds. She did not think she was healed; she remained terrified that the gnawing void lurked, hiding underneath the scar tissue that was growing over her heart. But she knew that it was enough. Whatever this was, whatever this feeling was; it was enough.

She went to the guild with almost a skip in her step.

* * *

"OK, I play Vijeeter. They use 'Dancing-jutsu' which raises the attack of all my cards on the field, allowing Laxus to cast Red Lightning, which should annihilate all your cards. So, hah! I win!" Gray threw down his cards triumphantly.

"Not so fast," Cana said, "I play the 'Nakama Power' card, which combined with my Natsu Dragneel that is already in play, means all  _your_  cards are defeated. I win!"

"'Nakama Power' doesn't even make sense!"

"Sorry, I don't make the rules." Cana shrugged insouciantly.

"You literally do. This is your card game!"

"Don't worry Gray-sama! Juvia has invented a new card game for us. It is called 'Gray-sama Love Love!'"

"Wow Gray, didn't realise you were into that kind of kinky stuff."

"Kinky Gray-sama?" Juvia's cheeks flushed red as a banner of images scrolled through her mind. "Ju-bin!"

"What are you thinking about, Juvia? Stop! STOOPPP!"

Cana's lips curved into a silent smirk as she took a drag from her bottle of wine. She left the embarrassed couple at their table and took a seat at the bar.

"That was pretty naughty of you, Cana," Mira said, pointedly placing a wine glass on the counter.

"You'd know, wouldn't you?"

Mira blushed prettily at Cana's wolfish grin.

"Mira would know what?" Erza asked, walking up to the duo, Wendy and Charle in tow.

"Nothing. Mira knows nothing!" Mira replied hurriedly, polishing some glasses with renewed vigour.

Charle hopped onto the counter and sniffed. "Looks like Juvia's proclivity for the third person is contagious."

"And so is Nab's work-shyness. How long have you guys been back anyway?" Cana asked.

Erza puffed out an irritated breath. "A month."

"We are waiting for Lucy-san to finish her research," Wendy added.

"It's nice to have you back though. The guild is certainly livelier with you all here."

"Don't speak too soon, Mira," Cana said. She pointed to the staircase that lead down to the library. Lucy stood on the top step, peering at the guildhall over the top of her Gale Force Glasses. Her face brightened when she spotted Erza and Wendy. "Looks like their little holiday is up."

* * *

Lucy patted the stack of documents in front of her. Towering piles of paper filled the room, each of them glowing with green magical energy. "I convinced Lyra to sneak these out of her mother's library, they- where are Natsu and Happy?"

"They went fishing with Lisanna. What are these?" Erza flicked through a few pages. The letters scurried over the sheet, rearranging themselves into inky black fractals.

Plue waddled up to Lucy and handed her a folder. "Plue, plue plue."

"Thanks, Plue!" Lucy passed the folder to Erza. "These are the Rules of the Quest." She gestured towards the glowing mountains of paper. "I have summarised them in this folder."

"That's way too much to read and remember!" Gray complained, leaning over Erza's shoulder to peer at the file.

"Um, Lucy-san. Could you maybe summarise the rules?" Wendy asked timidly.

"I was hoping Natsu would be here, so I wouldn't have to repeat this," Lucy sighed.

"I'm here. I'm here." Natsu walked into the room, Charle and Happy hovering behind. "Happy and I came as soon as Charle found us. What's happening?"

Happy gave a little shriek and hid behind Natsu's head. "Why is all this paper glowing?!"

"Maybe someone painted them with glow-in the dark paint!"

"That's stupid even for you, ashface."

"What was that? You want to go, snowflake?"

"Boys, you better not start fighting again!"

"Scary Erza!"

A stressmark appeared on Lucy's forehead as the group devolved into its usual nonsense. She slammed her fist onto the table. "The least you can do is listen to me. I have been in this library for A MONTH! A WHOLE MONTH! I have been sleeping here, eating here, washing up in that tiny sink because this guild is full of perverts who spy on the girl's bathrooms-"

"Yeah, you stink," Natsu said, sniffing the air.

Lucy threw a book at him. "Any. How," she bit out. "I have simplified the Rules to four key points. First, and this is the most important, if we do not do any Quest-related activities for two months then we will be disqualified from the Quest. For us, this time period ends in exactly 4 days."

"That's not a lot of time," Charle said.

"We can't get back to Giltena in four days!" Worry knotted Gray's brow.

"We still have Jellal's map. Mount Zonia is only a day from here," Erza interjected.

Charle huffed. "There's no way of telling if that lead will pan out."

"What other option do we have?"

"What about the stone tablet?"

Lucy shook her head. "I translated it, but it is in some kind of code. My best guess is that it is some kind of date, but I still have not cracked it."

"Mount Zonia then. We don't have another choice. Gildarts went there when he was on the quest as well," Gray said.

"Alright! I'm all fired up!"

Happy tugged on the hem of Natsu's shirt. "Take it easy, Natsu! You can't go overboard, or the poison will flare up again."

"There's another thing," Lucy chewed her lip, "there is a whole subsection of the Rules solely devoted to Deals. Like the one the Snake Guardian offered us. If we are disqualified from the Quest then the Deal is off. That is to say, if we do not drink the Potion of Abdication before the time limit is up in 4 days, we do not get anything. Natsu will die." Her voice broke on the last word.

"Hey," Natsu said gently, "Don't worry about it." He placed a hand on Lucy's hair and leaned his forehead against hers. "I told you. We'll always be together."

"I-I don't want you to die!" Lucy buried her head in Natsu's shirt, her hands tightly gripping the collar.

"Me either!" Happy burst into tears and crashed into their hug.

"No one is going to die," Erza said gently, "now let's get going. There is a midnight train to Geranium Town. That's only a few hours from Mount Zonia." She tilted her head toward the door and the other four of them filed out, leaving the family of three to their embrace.

* * *

Lightning flashed through windows that were rattling in the wind. One by one, the candles in the small mountain cabin were extinguished; allowing the moonlight from the calm night outside to illuminate the room.

"Now what do we do?" the woman yelled over the sound of the howling wind.

The man held up a hand, using his cloak to shield himself from the worst of the onslaught. "I am not sure. It is a Lost Magic. There was not a lot of information in the books!" A table turned somersaults in the hurricane, heading straight for the woman. "Watch out!" He pushed her out of the way with just a second to spare.

"I have to go in!" he said, pointing at the gaping black hole in the centre of the room. The area around it seemed askew, as though someone had peeled a painting away, leaving that part of the room hanging like a flap. A gale rushed forth from the aperture, the blades of air sharp enough to slice.

"I'm coming with you!"

"You can't!"

"You ripped a hole in the fabric of space and time. I am not letting you go alone!"

"Listen to me," the man said, ducking to avoid a flying portrait as it hurtled past. "You need to be here to form the link when my signal comes through. That's the most important part." He gripped her shoulders and looked at her with eyes that were squinted closed from the force of the wind. "Trust me to do my part, just as I trust you to do yours. We will succeed."

The woman nodded at him, determination lining the firm set of her mouth. "I trust you," she said.

The man squeezed her shoulders once before turning towards the fissure. Her hand shot out to grab his arm. "Be safe," she said.

He pushed his way through the cutting wind, hands raised to protect his eyes. He stopped inches from the hole and turned to look at her one last time. His cloak blew up behind him, forming an eerie halo around his body. The woman met his eyes and mouthed something to him. He could not hear her, but he recognised the three words. He tugged his hood over his head and leaned back, allowing the darkness to swallow him.

The wind stopped and the flap closed; sutured precisely with the most delicate of hands. In a few moments, it was as though he had never existed at all.

* * *

The train chuffed through the starlit night, leaving puffs of steam and smoke in its wake. Lucy leaned against the carriage window, gazing unseeingly into the darkness beyond. Her fingers idly played with Natsu's hair, his head resting in her lap as he slept.

"Um, Lucy-san," said Wendy, "earlier you said there were four key points to the rules of the quest, but you told us only one."

Gray shifted in his seat, turning his attention to them. Opposite him, Erza slept soundly, her arms wrapped around the sleeping forms of Charle and Happy.

Lucy pursed her lips and turned away from the window. "The other three are less urgent, but still important. The second of the four is that the Guardians are forbidden from killing the Questers at the first encounter. We already knew this because Tiger told us this. This means that the next time we encounter the Snake Guardian, we must be extra careful."

"It also means that our best strategy with the Guardians is to complete the task and obtain the key on the first encounter," Gray mused.

"Correct. We have been lucky so far that most of the Guardians have not required us to do battle, but we are not even halfway through. I do not think we will be so lucky in the future."

"Hmm. And what about the last two?"

"These are somewhat more interesting ones." Lucy absentmindedly tugged on one of Natsu's locks of hair, causing him to grumble and shift in his sleep. She smoothed his brow gently and continued, "The Deals made by the Guardians are set up as a blind trust. They have no idea if or when we fulfil the requirements and the Deal is completed. This is an extension of another Rule; the Guardians are not aware of when the Quest is taken or abandoned."

"The Guardians simply wait here on Earth until a new wizard takes the quest?" Wendy asked.

"Yes. Those that have already returned to the stars must wait there until there are new Questers. However, since there are long gaps between the Questers, there is no way for those remaining on Earthland to know if anyone is currently on the Quest or not. They can find out if someone new takes the Quest because the other Guardians return, but until then they have no knowledge."

"So, the Snake Guardian will not know if we abandon the quest or not. Or even if we take the deal."

Gray scratched his chin contemplatively. "Seems like something we can use to our advantage. As far as the Snake knows, we have left the continent and could have quit the quest."

"Yes," Lucy agreed, "the last thing is that the Guardian  _must_ issue their Task on the first encounter with the Questers, otherwise they automatically forfeit their key. Since we do not have the Snake's key and we have already had our first encounter, this means that a Task has been issued to us."

"That's crazy! The Snake didn't give us a Task!"

"Ssh!" Lucy glared at him, turning her head pointedly towards their sleeping comrades.

'Sorry,' Gray mouthed.

"Lucy-san, is there anything in the rules that specifies how the task should be given?"

"Good catch, Wendy. The Rules do not state that the Task must be issued explicitly. Anything the Snake may have said to us, or even vaguely hinted at, could be the Task. There are a lot of different Rules and it seems like a key to completing this Quest successfully would be to take advantage of the loopholes in them."

Wendy looked perturbed. "But Lucy-san, didn't Vega-sama say that Aconologia was punished for something like that?"

Lucy considered Wendy's words. "Maybe the real key is finding a way to walk the fine line between the two."

Gray looked over at Erza and saw her lips press themselves into a thin, unyielding line. Her eye cracked open and she met Gray's gaze. He turned away to look out of the window. "Yes," he said sardonically, that's something we're good at."

* * *

Natsu walked out of the bakery, his arms laden with brown paper bags. He pulled a bun out of one and tossed it to Gray. "Breakfast. Catch." He distributed the rest of the bread and chomped down on his own food. "There were some men talking in the bakery," he said as he chewed, "they said there's a monster in the forest near Zonia."

"Finish chewing before you speak," Erza scolded sternly. "Lucy, is there anything in the rules that mentions that a Guardian must remain only in Giltena?"

Lucy wiped her mouth before speaking. "No, but since the Guardian Beasts require so much magical energy, I don't think they would venture far from Giltena. The other continents don't have enough Ethernano to support them."

"Still, it does not mean it is impossible. Isn't Mount Zonia also called the Sacred Mountain? And it snows continuously on the mountain regardless of what time of year it is. That's certainly suspicious," Charle pointed out.

Gray spotted a passer-by and decided to ask her. "Excuse me, miss. Do you know why that mountain has snows all year around?"

The woman gave him a disgusted look. "Ew no dude, I just live here," she drawled. Then she looked him up and down and turned to walk away. "And put some clothes on, pervert."

Gray looked down at his body and squeaked. "My clothes!"

A few hours later, the wizards were ankle deep in the thick flurries near the summit of Mount Zonia. Lucy's teeth chattered as she sheltered with Wendy, Charle and Happy inside Horologium. "How much farther?"

"You know, you wouldn't have this problem if you would wear more clothes," Natsu grumbled.

"Hey! This is a cute outfit!"

Gray rolled his eyes and hurried to catch up with Erza. She was standing on a crest of land, looking at something in the distance. He looked over her shoulder to the map in her hand and then up at the landscape beyond. "Is that it?"

Erza rolled up the scroll with a snap. "We are here."

* * *

The beast rumbled around the dark cavern; his eyes accustomed to the intense darkness. Pointy teeth gnashed in frustration as he hit yet another dead end. There was power here. He could smell it. He just needed to find it.

A memory sprang into his mind. A duo of wizards striking him down. Lying on the ground. Defeated. "Never again!" he roared, slamming a clawed fist into the cave wall. He just needed to find it. Then he really would be the strongest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that I'm updating after an absolute aeon and then giving you an exposition chapter (but also look at me sneaking in my LGBTQI+ agenda by making Vijeeter non-binary in a throwaway line and then implying Cana and Mira got jiggy. Sorry it's so lowkey but I do have a Fraxus fic all planned out and I will be writing it Very Soon. OK, Fairly Soon.)
> 
> We should see some action in the next chapter and the proper Grayza fluff starts after this arc ends. Thanks to the folks who left comments and kudos. You are absolute stars! Please leave a comment again this time if you feel like it. Until next chapter!


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group gets ambushed by an enemy in the warren of tunnels under Mount Zonia. Wendy goes on a trip, but not in the conventional sense. Chendy moments!

The air in the tunnels was wrong. That was the only way Wendy could describe it. The cave on Mount Zonia had extended far back into the mountain, converging into a network of tunnels. The group had spent the better part of the day trying to make sense of the route.

Wendy wondered if she was falling sick. Why else would she be smelling warm meadows in the heart of a snowy mountain? She suppressed a sigh as the group found themselves staring at yet another dead end. The labyrinth was too twisted and the tunnels too tortuous for her sense of smell to be of any use. Every kink in the path trapped the air into little pockets, making the odours come from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

The group turned back, chose a different fork in the tunnels and walked on. There were too many options. Happy's stomach rumbled loudly, the sound echoing off the stone cave walls.

"Maybe we should stop and make camp," Lucy said, worriedly.

Erza stooped to feel the earth between her fingers. "No. Something walked through these tunnels a few hours ago. Not human. We need to find some place more sheltered, in case of an attack."

"Do you think it was a Guardian Spirit?" Charle asked.

"It could be anything. Natsu, Wendy, do you smell anything?"

Natsu huffed angrily. "My senses are all warped. I can't make sense of anything!"

Wendy nodded silently in agreement. An ominous feeling crept up her neck. They were trapped. Lucy had been making a map of the route they had taken so far, but they were too far into the mountain to make a quick escape. Erza was right, they needed to find a good place to set up camp. Charle was already flagging. She bent and scooped her companion into her arms.

"Let's split up," Gray suggested, as they came to yet another fork in the path.

"OK," Erza said, "Gray, you and I will take the path on the right. The others take the path on the left. If the tunnel splits, you come back. We will meet back at this spot." She fixed Natsu with a stern look. "Do not venture further!"

"Aye Sir!" Natsu saluted.

The team split up. Wendy followed Natsu, her eyes fixed on the small flame he carried in his hand.

"What's wrong Wendy? You are very quiet today," Lucy said.

Wendy shook her head and gave Lucy a falsely bright smile. There was no point in explaining to Lucy that she could not shake the feeling that something was about to go horribly wrong. "It's nothi-"

The flame in Natsu's hand began to flicker, growing and morphing into monstrous shapes. Wendy gasped and moved to shield Lucy when the flame burst forth, consuming the world around her in a blaze.

* * *

Gray scratched his neck; the collar of his jacket suddenly felt too tight. He thought that he and Erza had an easy friendship now, but situations like these always made him feel cagey. The last time he and Erza had been alone she had punched him in the neck before giving him relationship advice. Granted, the advice had been pretty useful, but he was not in a hurry to ask for more.

"Gray." The way she said his name made it seem like a command.

"Yeah?" he asked dubiously.

Erza cleared a stray boulder from the path. "How are things with Juvia?"

Gray licked his lips as he considered how to answer the question. "They're OK, I guess," he hedged. He sighed when Erza shot him a look that told him how unsatisfactory that answer was. "She is… a lot. The other day she introduced me to Juvia 3.0: Waifu Mode."

Erza chuckled. "You sound as if you are complaining."

"She tries to stay at my speed but then sometimes she just takes off and starts talking about our thirty babies. I don't even know if I want  _one_! Last week, she tricked me into babysitting Asca-chan with her so that I could have a preview of our 'future life.'"

She gave him a genuinely curious look. "What is wrong with that?"

Gray's answering laugh was bordering on hysterical. He should have seen that coming. Erza's view of reality was mystifying. "It's too soon! We've been dating a month. We haven't even had-," Gray decided to change sentence midway. "Just. Babies are not happening for us right now."

"Hmmm." Erza cupped her chin in contemplation. "You need to hurry up, Gray. Her biological clock is ticking."

"Bio- what?!"

"You know. Women can only have babies until a certain age."

"Juvia is only twenty!"

"Still, you never know how long the baby-making process can take."

"The what?"

Erza shook her head in disappointment. "When two people love each other, they take off all their clothes and-"

"Oh my God, stop talking!" Gray clamped his hands over his ears in vain.

She rubbed her palms against each other exaggeratedly. "And rub mud all over each other while chanting prayers to the Moon Goddess. Then nine months later, a baby comes out."

"Wha-?" Gray could not believe his ears. Did she really not know? He expected this from Natsu, but this was too much. Oh God, was he going to have to give Erza the Talk?! "E-Erza," he stammered, "th-that's not how- I mean, the- when two people-"

Erza decided to put him out of his misery. "I'm kidding." She fought hard to suppress her grin. "You should see your face right now."

Gray faceplanted. What was happening? Did he accidentally take a wrong turn in this maze and wander into an alternate universe where Erza was a prankster?

"I read ecchi novels, Gray," she reminded him as she walked further down the tunnel.

A smile broke out over his face. Of course.

"You seem happier," he said without thinking.

Erza turned to look at him. The light from the torch in her hand lit her face with a gentle golden glow. "I am. Happier." She walked back to him and held out a hand to help him up. "I have been talking to Porlyusica, it is a kind of treatment where you talk about your feelings and she gives you small tasks and challenges to help overcome them."

Gray placed his hand in hers. "Was she the one who told you to prank me?" he asked as she heaved him to his feet.

"Yes. She said I need to 'lighten up.' Apparently, it has nothing to do with illumination."

"I see."

"I do not think I will do it again. Your reaction was funny, but there is nothing funny about lying to people."

His lips twitched. "No. There isn't." Porlyusica had her work cut out for her.

"I thought you had been seeing her to get a replacement eye."

Erza looked surprised that he knew about her visits to the healer. She fingered the black eyepatch over her left eye shyly. "I have decided not to get one. My depth perception is fine, and I can still fight the same." She hesitated, her mouth twisting. "Porlyusica thinks I should get one for aesthetic reasons, but my hair covers my right eye most of the time anyway. Beauty is not that important."

Gray brushed her fringe away from her forehead and studied her face. "You're still beautiful," he said bluntly. His eyes widened as he realised what he had just done. He stepped back hurriedly, his cheeks flaming.

"We should get going, it's quite late already." Her voice was gruff; the dusting of pink on her cheeks the only sign of her discomfiture. She walked on for a few metres before she realised Gray was not following. She tutted. "You are lagging, Gray. Hurry up!"

He had just opened his mouth to deliver a retort when he saw the hulking shadow move behind her. "Watch out!" He barrelled into her, the two of them rolling out of the way an instant before a bolt of magical energy incinerated the ground where Erza had been standing.

Gray's shove had knocked the torch out of her hand. It rolled to a patch of moss, setting the small green tufts ablaze. Erza requipped a sword into her hand and pointed towards the darkness. "Show yourself!" A gasp escaped her lips as the figure stepped into the light. "Jiemma?"

* * *

Was she dreaming? Her body felt as light as the air around her. She kicked out her legs and her body floated out from behind a sea of dark grey. A cloud. Where was she? She looked for clues in the landscape below her but was distracted by the translucence of her limbs. Was she a ghost?

It took Wendy a few moments to realise that she was floating above Margaret Town. Her brain felt fuzzy. How had she ended up here? The last thing she remembered was walking in the tunnels under Mount Zonia.

A flash of pink caught her eye. Cheria. She drifted over to the tree on the hill that overlooked the city. It was their special place. She saw Cheria finger a spot on the trunk of the tree. She knew what it was without even looking. The bark had been stripped away to scratch 'WM + CB FRIENDS 4EVER.' The words outlined in a heart. She and Cheria had put it there after the Lamia Scale Thanksgiving Festival two years ago. Before she quit the guild to return to Fairy Tail.

"Cheria," she said, reaching out a hand to touch her. Her hand passed straight through the other girl's shoulder. Astonished, Wendy tried again. And again. Was she really a ghost? She heard footsteps as someone else came up the hillside. No. She wasn't a ghost. This was a memory.

She watched as her self in the memory came up to Cheria and touched her shoulder, just as she had a few seconds ago.

The events had happened two weeks ago, but every detail was still crystal clear. It would still be years from now. This was not a memory she would ever forget.

"Wendy!" Cheria turned with a smile. "Do you remember the day we wrote this?"

Memory Wendy smiled back. "I was so sad that day."

"But we're still here. Two years later. I wonder, if twenty years from now we will be standing here, looking at this."

"What do you mean, Cheria? It says, 'friends forever.'"

"Yeah. Friends." Cheria bit her lip pensively.

"What's wrong?"

Cheria looked away, staring at the town in the distance. "It's nothing." She sat down at the base of the tree and indicated for Wendy to take a seat beside her. "I should ask you that. I keep catching you staring at me with a sad expression."

Wendy felt something shift inside her and she looked up to find herself suddenly looking at Cheria's face. She had entered Memory Wendy's body. "Cheria," she found herself saying. "I need to talk to you."

She was reliving the memory. Why? Why  _this_  memory?

"You are talking to me, silly."

"No. It's about your magic."

Cheria gave a small huff of irritation. "That again? Wendy, I told you, it's my choice. I'm  _happy_. Stop beating yourself up."

Wendy tugged her skirt lower over her knees. "It's not that. Cheria, what if there was a way to get your magic back?"

"No."

"No?" Wendy got to her feet, agitated. "What do you mean no?"

"No. I don't want it," Cheria replied calmly.

"But why?"

"What do you mean why?"

Wendy clenched her fists in frustration. "You told me magic was the only thing in your life that you were good at. Why wouldn't you want it back?"

"That was two years ago. Do you think I haven't picked up any other skills?" Cheria gave her an amused look.

"I'm serious, Cheria. You could have it all back. Please. Take me seriously."

Cheria stood and levelled her gaze at Wendy. "Fine. At what cost?"

"Do you want it or not?"

"At what cost?"

"What does that matter, Cheria!"

Cheria laughed incredulously. "What does it matter?! I'm not an idiot, Wendy. Nothing comes free. What would you have to give up for this?"

Tears sprang to Wendy's eyes. "Please. Let me do this for you."

"But I don't even want it, Wendy."

"Why not, Cheria? I don't understand."

"It means more to you than it does to me." Cheria paused, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. "It has always meant more to you, Wendy. Your magic is a gift from your mother. It's all you have left of her. It is who you are. Who you have always been. A Dragon Slayer." She held her arms out helplessly. "I am just a girl who found a book."

"It's not fair," Wendy sobbed, "I was supposed to help you. To protect you. Instead, I took your future. I… I never wanted that."

"It was my  _choice_."

Wendy shook her head, her lips trembling with emotion. "What about  _my_  choice? I chose to give up my magic, but you took that away from me. Why did you do that?" She rubbed her eyes to stop the tears that just wouldn't stop falling. She jerked with surprise when she felt Cheria's hands cup her face.

"I did it for love."

Her tears stopped abruptly as the blood rushed to her face. "Cheria…"

Cheria rested her forehead against hers. "Because I love you, you cry-baby. I am  _in_  love with you. Because I found something more important than being a wizard. Love is stronger than anything magic could offer."

Wendy placed her hands over Cheria's, gripping them as she leaned into her touch.

"And I would do it again," Cheria continued, "And again, and again. Every time. I would do the same thing. Every. Time. That's why I don't want it back. Because it was a gift of love. Given freely to you.

"You're going to do great things, Wendy. I'm moving forward too. You need to stop looking back. I don't want to be the reason you- I don't want to hold you back. Ever."

Wendy sniffed. "How can you hold me back when you are already so far ahead of me?"

Cheria chuckled, letting her go. "Come on," she said, turning to leave, "let's go back to the guild."

"Wait!" Wendy caught her hand. "There's something I need to do first." She pulled Cheria to the tree and ran her fingers over the trunk, healing the scratches in the bark.

"WM + CB 4EVER," Cheria read, her voice choking. She turned to Wendy with a hopeful look in her eyes. "Does this mean-?"

Wendy nodded. "I'm in love with you too." She laced her fingers through Cheria's. "Can I kiss you now?"

"Yes!" Cheria burst into a laugh, unable to contain her happiness. "Yes."

Wendy slid her hand up Cheria's jaw and pulled her face closer to hers. "This is going to be so much easier when I'm taller," she grumbled, standing on her tiptoes.

"Can't wait," Cheria replied, closing the gap between their lips.

Suddenly Wendy was flying out her memory self and up into the clouds. A shadow crossed the land as the memory reset itself and played out again.

* * *

It played out again. And again. And again. By the fifteenth time Wendy was starting to get twitchy. Was purgatory just a repetition of her happiest memory? Over and over until she was sick of it? What kind of twisted punishment was that?

Her memory self reached out to touch Cheria on the shoulder.

"Wendy!" Cheria said turning. "W-W-Wendy!" The image stuttered, Cheria's face shifting amorphously. "Wendy! Wendy!" she repeated like an automaton. "Wendy, wake up!" Cheria slapped her face. No, not Cheria. This was Lucy. With a gasp, Wendy regained consciousness.

"Wendy!" Charle exclaimed, jumping into her arms.

"Wendy, are you OK?" Happy said, worriedly.

She rubbed her throbbing head and tried to stand. "What happened?"

Lucy helped her to her feet, putting an arm around her shoulders when Wendy failed to hold herself up. "There was a fire," she said.

Wendy belatedly noticed the scarf around Lucy's face.

"Horologium rescued me in the nick of time, I asked Scorpio and Gemini to help put the blaze out."

"We are!" the duo of Celestial Spirits said.

"You see that deep red moss in the corner? It's called Poppy Moss. It's incredibly rare in this climate and illegal in many parts of the continent. Smoking it puts people in a stupor. They are said to relive their happiest memory over and over. People can  _die_  if they overdose on it."

"A sudden draught blew Natsu's fire out of control," Charle explained, "The tunnel was lined with the plant. They all caught fire. The smoke knocked us out." Charle and Happy had escaped much of the smoke by virtue of their short stature. The hot smoke had risen towards the roof of the tunnel, leaving the air near the ground easier to breathe.

Wendy turned to see that Natsu was still lying on the floor. "Natsu?" she croaked.

Lucy shook her head anxiously. "He ate most of the fire trying to save us, but now he won't wake up. Please, Wendy." Lucy clasped Wendy's hands in hers. "Please help him."

Wendy stumbled over to Natsu, aided by Lucy. She knelt by his body and tried to focus her blurry mind.

Natsu spluttered awake after a few moments. "What the-" he began, but then he felt the earth under him tremble. "Get out of the way!" he pushed his companions further into the tunnel just as the wall in front of them blew apart.

"Erza!" Happy cried. "Gray!"

"Everyone! Watch out!" Erza yelled, backflipping away as another bolt of energy surged out of the hole in the cavern wall.

"Ice Make: Cannon!" Dozens of ice cannons appeared in the tunnel, ready to fire at their opponent.

"Gray, no! The tunnel is already unstable from his attacks. We have to get out of here!" The first few rocks began to fall, just as a huge crack appeared in the ceiling above Erza's head.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked futilely.

"We are under attack! I will explain as we move. Hurry!"

The monster roared as he came through the tunnel. "Is that Jiemma?!" Lucy shouted in astonishment, "What the hell is he doing here?"

"Beats me," Gray replied, "He just started attacking. We have to keep going until we can find a safe space to launch a counterattack."

Erza swore as they came up to another branching tunnel. "Gray!"

"On it! Ice Make: Wall!" That would hold Jiemma off for a few moments. They could not risk running into a dead end; Jiemma's rage would either kill them or bury them under a mountain of stone.

"Left! Come on!" Charle said, the adrenaline kicking her foresight into action. "I can see it now, the way out of here." The group hurried behind her, the ones who had been drugged by the poppy fire struggling to keep up with the others.

"What happened to you guys?" Erza asked, requipping the shield from her Adamantine Armour into her hand. She held it aloft to shelter the group from the steady hail of rocks from the tunnel collapse.

"There was an accident," Lucy explained.

"Aye, Natsu and Wendy were unconscious for a long time," Happy added.

Erza turned to glance at Wendy. "Can you fight?"

"Y-yes," Wendy replied, stumbling and falling to her knees.

Erza scooped her up and threw her over her shoulder. "You are too weak to stand! You are in no condition to fight." She winced as she heard the rumbling in the tunnel grow louder. "Charle, how much further?"

"There is a large chamber up ahead, but it is still underground. If we continue a little farther, we will find ourselves above ground again!"

A bolt of magic swept past Natsu's ear. "Too late, we have to make our stand here!" The group rushed into a vast, high-ceilinged chamber, dimly illuminated by the phosphorescent rocks that lined the walls. "Alright!" Natsu said, punching his fists together. "I'm getting fired up!"

"Happy!" Erza ordered.

"Aye, sir!" Happy nimbly flew up and snapped a bracelet around Natsu's wrists.

"Sealstone? What the hell?!"

"Sorry, Natsu, but we cannot risk activating the poison in your bloodstream." Erza parried one of Jiemma's blasts, sending it crashing into the ceiling.

"This is bad!" Lucy said, "Natsu and Wendy cannot fight, and I used up too much magic putting out the fire earlier."

"Aye. And Charle and I do not even have enough eergy for our Aera."

A light shone around Erza as she requipped into her Purgatory Armour. "Do not fear. Gray and I will handle him!"

"No!" Gray yelled. "Ice Make: Gungnir!" A massive lance of ice speared Jiemma just as he entered the room. "Get out of here, the roof can cave in at any moment! I will hold him off." He gave Erza an earnest look. "You have to protect the others."

Natsu started towards Gray. "You bastard, don't try to be a hero!"

"Natsu, no!" Lucy tried to restrain him.

"Get these cuffs off me and let me fight!"

Erza tore herself from Gray's gaze. Her body glowed golden as she requipped into her usual Heart Kreuz Armour. "Understood," she said. She delivered a swift kick to Natsu's head, knocking him out cold. She threw him over her other shoulder and turned to look at Gray. "I will leave this to you. Everyone! Let's go!"

She ushered Happy, Charle and Lucy into the tunnel, forcing herself to not look back.

Lucy grabbed Charle and Happy; her longer legs enabling her to move much faster than them. "Erza, Jiemma is part demon. Gray mustn't use his Devil Slaying Magic either."

"I know."

"What do you mean, you know? We have to go back and help him!"

Erza's lips tightened. "This is something he has to do for himself."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never written WxW before, so I'd love feedback on the Chendy scene if anyone has any. It's much tamer than the NaLu stuff because they're like 14 and 16 and I am nooooot comfortable with writing makeouts for them.
> 
> There won't be a lot more Chendy moments because Cheria is a minor character in this story, so this about it.
> 
> Please leave a kudo or comment if you feel like it :). 
> 
> Until nex-... five minutes later. This is a double update!


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gray faces off against Jiemma. Natsu and Lucy have a moment. The secrets of Mount Zonia are revealed.

"Do not think you can protect your friends from me, boy," Jiemma said. He took shook off the wreckage of the ice lance and took a few steps into the cavern, his shoulders squared. His eyes had shrunk to pinpoints of red in a face that was lined and worn. He raised a scaly black claw and sent a burst of magic straight at Gray. "I  _will_  be the strongest! You cannot stop me this time!"

Gray sprang out of the way. He flipped to the side, bringing his hands together mid-air. "Ice Make: Death Scythe!" He swung the weapon towards Jiemma.

Jiemma raised an arm, the ice breaking uselessly against the scales on his skin. "Weak! Do you really think you can stop me with such pathetic attacks?" He sent a wave of magic bursts across the cavern that Gray struggled to dodge. "I, who have changed myself, given up my humanity, just to become stronger. You cannot stop me! Curse Magic: Demon Blast!"

A sparking orb of darkness hurtled towards Gray, knocking him into the wall in a cloud of smoke and dust. "Sorry, Erza," Gray said, as the smoke cleared. The blast had ripped the clothes off his right arm, revealing inky black skin. He had used his Devil Slaying abilities to absorb the blow. "Looks like this is one promise I am going to have to break."

He launched himself towards Jiemma, ducking as he ran to avoid the blasts of magic that came his way. "Ice Devil's Zeroth Long Sword! You can't use your blast magic if I attack you from close range!"

Jiemma sidestepped Gray's attack, grabbing Gray by the hand and throwing him down to the ground. "Weakness must be eradicated from this world. Only the strong shall survive! Once I have obtained the Zmaj Ključ, I will destroy those who oppose me and truly be the strongest!"

He spun around and delivered a kick to Gray's abdomen, sending him flying. Gray's fingers clawed at the earth as he slid. He skidded to a stop, clutching his stomach, his t-shirt ripped to shreds. Jiemma raised his hands above his head, forming a giant glowing ball of energy between his palms.

Gray spat out blood as he rose to his feet. "I don't care what this 'Mai Clyooch' nonsense is, but if you come for my friends, I will cut you down!" He unleashed the full power of his Devil Slayer ability, allowing the dark magic to ripple over his skin. The blackness crept up his face as his hair rearranged itself into spikes. Jiemma unleashed his attack; the colossal ball of magic flew straight at Gray.

He flicked it away with his wrist; the attack barrelled into the wall of the cavern, breaking through several more tunnels as it went. Gray smiled sinisterly, his lips parting a fraction to reveal pointed teeth. "It's my turn now."

Jiemma blinked as Gray disappeared from view. With superhuman speed, Gray reappeared behind Jiemma, delivering a series of punches to his back. He turned on his heel to deliver a roundhouse kick, sending Jiemma flying across the cavern. He raced over in a flash, arriving before Jiemma did and delivered an uppercut to his jaw.

He hit him again and again, pleasure flooding his body every time his fist connected. There was a voice that lurked in the back of his head, warning him that he was going too far but he ignored it. He would destroy this creature that stood before him. He would destroy it all. His vision clouded, covering the world in a red miasma. He could not think clearly, the haze of bloodlust permeated his every thought.

The next thing he knew, he was standing over Jiemma's body, drenched in his blood. He stared in horror at the ravaged form below him and at the red that tainted his hands. The blackness across his torso roiled, stretching further across to his left shoulder. His legs gave out from under him and he fell to the ground. Jiemma looked as though an animal had attacked him. Fed off of him. The realisation that he had been the one who did that sent Gray crawling back from his victim. "Wha-What have I done?"

Suddenly, Jiemma gave a huge shudder, rolling over to fix Gray with empty eyes. "You cannot finish me off that easily, boy. I told you, I am the strongest. I will be the strongest."

His bones cracked as his body contorted, a macabre grimace twisting his face. Wings exploded from his body, turning his torso inside out. His legs burst, swelling into monstrous hooves. Jiemma rose to his feet just as his skull cracked open to allow giant curved horns to emerge. "I have hunted demons relentlessly these past years. Taken the best parts of them to make myself into the Ultimate Demon. I will never be defeated again! I will prevail!" He roared and flapped his wings, a chimera of stolen parts.

Gray found himself reflexively sucking in a deep breath of air. He rose, unsteadily, to his feet. The red mist wavered at the edges of his vision, ready to overcome him once again. "Ice Devil's- NO!" He stumbled as he fought to regain control. "NO!"

Jiemma screeched and flew straight towards Gray. He grabbed him by the torso and rose high in the air before spinning around and throwing Gray to the ground. Gray scraped across the cavern floor, coming to rest against a tumble of rocks. He clutched his head, straining to remain in control. Jiemma used the opportunity to throw another blast of curse magic. Gray stepped out of the way just in time, but the shockwaves from the blast sent him flying across the cavern. The next attack hit him square in the chest. Injuries spattered his body, but he still struggled to his feet.

"Fight me!" Jiemma ordered, "Test your magic against this body." He held up a clawed hand and snapped his fingers. Bursts of magic exploded around the cavern. Gray was tossed around mercilessly. "Did you not learn that magic to become the ultimate warrior?"

He kicked out at Gray. The cloven hoof caught Gray in the shoulder, dislocating it and smashing his clavicle. He gasped in pain. The more he endured, the more tenuous his grasp on his mind became. He could not give in to the madness, but he could not let Jiemma win either. His nakama were relying on him. He could not lose. Erza's words to him rang in his ears.

Jiemma rained down blows upon Gray. The ground around him was shattering under the impact. "Test it, you weakling," Jiemma screeched, "See how my Ultimate Demon Body outlasts even your Devil Slaying Magic!"

"NO!" Adrenaline surged through Gray as he found the strength to throw Jiemma off of him. "No!" He stared down at the black markings that now covered both his hands. "This magic… it has never been mine." He blinked back tears as he remembered the warmth of his father's dying embrace.

"Dad, you gave me this power to slay E.N.D., but Zeref's demons are no more. I have no need left for it. My own demons are the only ones left to slay." Gray struggled to his feet, surety flooding through his veins. "I'm sorry, Dad, but I cannot be who you want me to be."

He raised his hand, the darkness peeling from his skin and swirling around him like a cloud. A thunderclap rent the air and the miasma exploded in a shower of pure white ice. "I can only be who I am. I am a creator, not a destroyer. I am an Ice Make Wizard and the person who is going to cut you down!"

With that final statement, Gray stripped off the last of his clothes. It was time to get serious.

* * *

Charle pointed to the left; Erza and Lucy raced down the tunnel. They had run down countless tunnels, but they could still hear the roar of battle behind them. Finally, Lucy spotted a whisper of light. With a final burst of energy, she sprinted towards the opening.

"What?"

Lucy's surprise was equalled by Erza's as she ran out of the cave seconds later. The group stared around in surprise.

"Yes," Charle said, hopping down from Lucy's arms, "I don't understand it either. But this is what my vision showed me."

Erza placed Natsu and Wendy on the soft green grass and turned to look at the meadow around her. The trees were shaded silver by the starlight, but she could tell that their foliage was lush and green.

Wendy stirred. The warm, sweet air was replenishing her energy. She took a deep breath and slowly sat up. "How is this possible?" she asked. Mount Zonia was known for its year-round snows.

Happy circled the skies. "We are above the clouds," he reported.

Lucy stared around her. How could such a beautiful green meadow exist above the clouds on a snowy mountain? She squinted towards the forest beyond, trying to see where it ended.

"There's a lake at the end of the forest. It drops off into the clouds." Happy squinted up, afraid, at Lucy and Erza. "What's going on, you guys?"

"It's magic," Natsu replied as he lay face down on the ground. He twisted his head to look at his companions. "There's some very strong magic here. It is warping the world around itself."

"Do you mean like Dragon Cry?" Charle asked, worriedly.

Natsu sat up and looked over at Wendy. "There's something familiar about this scent."

Wendy nodded. "It seems to be coming from everywhere here. It smells like Aconologia, but different somehow."

"What?!" Happy cried, running to hide behind Natsu. "There's another Aconologia?!"

"No. Whatever this thing is, it isn't alive."

Erza looked at the clear night sky. "Whatever this thing is, it can wait. Let us make camp here and try to get some rest."

"What about Gray-san?" Wendy asked.

Erza walked back to the mouth of the cave and strained her ears. "I cannot hear anything, but that does not mean anything." She sighed. Gray was so reckless. She had seen the determination in his face when he had told them to leave him behind and she trusted him to win the fight. Still. It had been quite a while since then. "Lucy, take Virgo and see if you can find him."

"I'll come with you," Charle said. Her abilities would be useful if they got lost in the tunnels again.

Natsu made to get up but Erza fixed him with a look that rooted him to the spot. No doubt he would find a way to release his cuffs and charge into battle if she let him.

"Wait!" Happy cried. "I have a great idea!"

"What do you bet this idea is terrible," Charle muttered to Lucy.

Happy hopped up and pulled Lucy's fleuve ďé toiles out of her belt. "If we hold one end here and you take the rest with you, then you definitely won't get lost."

Wendy clapped her hands. "That's a great idea, Happy! You can give it three sharp tugs if you are in danger."

Erza wrapped the fall of the whip tightly around her palm. "Be careful," she nodded at Lucy and Charle. She watched them go, the bright blue ribbon of stars fading into the darkness behind them.

* * *

"Ice Make: Fishnet!" A lattice of icy threads wrapped themselves around Jiemma, freezing him in place.

Jiemma snapped his wings, tearing the net to shreds before it touched him. He dove towards Gray and grabbed him before flying up to the roof of the cavern.

"Your attacks are getting a little predictable, old man," Gray smirked. He freed himself from Jiemma's grip, swinging around his neck and onto his back. He gripped the horns on Jiemma's head for balance as the monster thrashed to shake him off. "Ice Make: Cold Excalibur!" He jammed the sword in the space between Jiemma's head and neck.

Jiemma bucked in pain, throwing Gray off. Dark mists began to swirl around his body and his face contorted as scales began to grow across one cheek. "Curse Magic: Demon Cannon!" A beam of destructive energy sped towards Gray.

"Ice Make: Shield!" The shield cracked under the force of the blow, shattering into pieces. Gray's eyes widened as he realised Jiemma had taken advantage of the manoeuvre to sneak up on him. "Shit!" he swore. He wrapped himself in a cocoon of ice armour just as Jiemma hit him with a close-range magic blast.

He sprang away, backflipping across the room. "Ice Make: Unlimited! One-sided Chaotic Dance!" A swirl of swords materialised in the air around him, shimmying momentarily before flying straight towards his enemy.

Jiemma closed his wings around himself to protect himself from the blow. "Weak! Your attacks are weak!" He unfurled his wings to find that Gray had closed the gap between them.

"Ice Blade: Seven Slice Dance!" Gray delivered the strikes before sliding his leg under Jiemma and sweeping him off the ground. "Ice Make: Ice Impact!" A beautifully carved hammer appeared over Jiemma, smashing into him and leaving a crater in the surrounding area.

Jiemma careered out of the wreckage. One of his wings was torn, making his flight unbalanced. He crashed to the floor but rolled himself into an attack position quickly. He concentrated the remainder of his energy into one final attack. "Curse Magic: Hyper Beam!"

There was no way his ice shield could withstand that attack. Gray brought his hands before him and focused. The spell was still imperfect, and he had not practised it enough, but it was his best shot. "Ice Make: Cambuscan!"

A sheet of ice grew from his hands, its edges twisting into an elegant filigree that housed a shining mirrored surface. Gray braced himself, sliding back several feet as the blast pounded into the mirror. The mirror cracked but held, bouncing the beam back towards Jiemma. His eyes widened in horror as he realised what was happening. The blast burned through his chest, through to the tunnels beyond. Jiemma fell to the floor, defeated.

Gray panted heavily as the mirror vaporised in his hands. He limped over to his vanquished enemy. Jiemma turned hollow eyes to Gray. "Finish me off. The weak do not deserve to survive."

"True strength lies in the bonds we share with our family. Our nakama. Our guild. You were already taught that lesson once, but it seems you are a slow learner. Go home to your family, old man."

Gray stumbled as the ground around him began to shake. He realised too late that the deflected magic beam had shattered most of the walls around the cavern.

"We have to get out of here, the ceiling is going to come crashing down any second!"

"Go. Leave me." Tears of self-pity filled Jiemma's eyes.

With the last dregs of his energy, Gray brought his hands together for one last spell. "I already told you. That's not who I am."

A dome of ice exploded upwards in the nick of time, sheltering the two of them from the initial onslaught. But it wasn't enough. The dome cracked as the weight of the remaining mountain bore down on them, crashing down until all that was left was black.

* * *

"Virgo, stay on guard, we might have to tunnel out of here at any moment," Lucy said, donning her Virgo Star Dress.

"Roger that, Princess," Virgo replied, sensing correctly that the moment was too tense for a punishment joke.

The trio of them pushed forward towards the heart of the mountain. Suddenly the walls around them began to shake.

"Stop! Get back!" Charle exclaimed, she pushed Lucy and Virgo away just as the tunnel before them was filled with a shower of dust and shrapnel.

"Gray!" Lucy cried. She ran towards where they had left Gray, hoping beyond all hope that they were not too late.

"Princess, stop! It is too dangerous!" Virgo hurried after her, with Charle flying overhead. They found Lucy kneeling before a wall of rubble.

"No," she said, the tears streaming down her face. "We need to find him. Please."

"I'm sorry, Princess. It is too dangerous to tunnel into the surrounding walls right now."

Charle put a paw up to her mouth to hold back her sobs. "That idiot."

Lucy buried her face in Virgo's apron as she sobbed. "Virgo, please! We can't lose him."

"Tch, what's all this noise about?" came an irritated voice from behind them.

"Gray!" Lucy launched herself at him, wrapping him in a tight hug.

"Geez, Lucy. Get off, I can't breathe." He fixed his gaze on Charle and Virgo. "I hope you guys know the way out of here, because I sure as hell don't."

Lucy wiped her eyes. "I'm so glad you're safe."

"I did not know Princess was so eager," Virgo whispered.

"My, my, Lucy. So wanton," Charle added.

Lucy looked down to see that Gray was not wearing any clothes. "Kyaaa! Get away from me, you pervert!"

Gray followed the other three grumpily, a red bruise the size of a potato on his cheek. As he neared the exit, he looked back towards the heart of the mountain. He had woken alone in one of the tunnels near the debris. A memory of black wings shielding him and gentle claws pulling him from the debris hovered on the edge of his mind; a feeling more than a memory. A plea for redemption. He shook his head to clear it and turned, stepping towards the light.

* * *

Lucy pouted, annoyed. Natsu was being weird. Again. It was not that he ignored her, she might have been able to cope with that. It was more that he was suddenly indifferent. Completely uninterested in anything she had to say. He had sulked all through dinner, even as she retold the story of how she had found Gray in the tunnels.

To tell the truth he had been acting weird for over a month. She had expected him to pester her while she was working in the library, but he had hardly come to visit, choosing instead to spend his time fishing or quarrelling with his other guildmates. She huffed, looking up at the stars. She had gone for a stroll after dinner, finding a picturesque glade in the forest. The glade was filled with a sea of flowers, their scent mingling with the cool night breeze. She perched on a convenient boulder and looked out at the flowers, feeling calmed by their beauty.

She did not hear him come up behind her, but suddenly, he was there. Natsu took a seat at the base of the rock and looked up at her. "Was this your idea?" he asked, twirling the Sealstone cuffs in one hand.

"No." She could be indifferent too.

"But you support it."

"Yes." She saw his jaw clench with anger. "Don't bother destroying them. We have more."

Natsu scowled and flung the cuffs far into the field. They landed soundlessly amongst the flowers, sending a puff of pollen into the air. She thought he would get up and leave but instead he leaned his head back against the rock. "I hate this," he said.

She slid down to rock to sit beside him. "We'll figure it out."

"You don't trust me to stay within my limits?" Natsu pouted at Lucy's sly expression. "I'm not  _that_  reckless." A cricket chirped in the silence of the night. Natsu looked off into the distance. "I promised you that we'll always be together. I don't plan on breaking that promise."

"Oh." A blush crept up Lucy's cheeks. It was her turn to look off into the distance now. Tentatively she edged her hand across the grass, reaching out to touch Natsu's pinky with hers. "Then why were you ignoring me for most of last month?" she asked hesitantly.

Natsu's finger pressed into hers. "Tch," he huffed. "You were busy, and I didn't want to distract you."

She turned sceptical eyes to his. "When has that stopped you before." Understanding dawned as the memory of that night on the ship drifted into her mind. "Oh. OH."

"Yeah." Natsu looked away, the lightest touch of pink tinting his cheeks.

Lucy smiled softly and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I missed you."

He huffed in response. A silence fell between them. "I missed you too."

"They're in l-l-l-l-love!" came a voice from above their heads.

Lucy jumped up to see Happy lurking in the branches above. "It's not- you can't- come back here you dratted cat!" she yelled as Happy flew away, laughing.

"We are, aren't we?" Natsu said nonchalantly.

Lucy spun around, but he was already walking back to camp. She stood rooted to the spot, unable to believe what she had just heard.

Finally, something inside her clicked and she found herself running after him. Had he just-? Her fingers brushed his back. A large part of her wanted to embrace him, her front to his back, no words exchanged between them.

A larger, much more vindictive part wanted to leave him as speechless as he had left her with his casual declaration. She grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around before grabbing his collar. She pulled him to her, sealing her lips over his in a searing kiss. A smirk twisted her lips as she pulled away. There. That would teach him a lesson.

Lucy made it three feet before he caught up to her, taking her in his arms and pressing his mouth to hers. She parted her lips, grazing his tongue with hers as her hands tangled themselves in his hair. Breathing heavily, the two of them sank to the forest floor. It looked like they both had lessons left to learn.

* * *

"OK, Team," Erza ordered, standing with her hands on her hips. "It is time to get serious!" A blinding light engulfed her, and she emerged in her battle outfit. A black bikini.

"Alright! Pool party!" Natsu yelled, thrusting his hands in the air. He was wearing pink swimming trunks that matched his hair.

"Woohoo!" Happy cheered.

Erza fixed them with a stern gaze. "This is not a party. We are on a mission!"

"Y-y-yes, Erza!" The two of them saluted smartly.

Lucy watched the exchange, a sweatdrop hovering near her forehead. The team had spent the entire morning searching the meadow and forest but had found nothing. The lake was their last option. She sighed and adjusted the straps of her white bikini. They had three days before their Quest expired. She wondered if she would be able to convince Natsu to drink the Potion of Abdication if it came down to it. Maybe between her and Happy they could generate enough emotional blackmail to knock down his stubborn walls.

"Um, Lucy-san," Wendy asked, "what exactly are we hoping to find in the lake?"

"Some sort of magical artefact, maybe," Gray answered, walking up to them. "Jiemma mentioned something about it. A 'Mai Clyooch' or something."

"A mai what?" Lucy repeated. Gray shrugged in response.

"Whatever it is, it would be safer in the hands of the New Magic Council," Charle said. She was dressed in an adorable orange two-piece. Lucy looked at her and then looked at Happy and wondered for the umpteenth time why Happy was the only Exceed she had seen who did not wear any clothes. 'Unless the bindle around his neck counts,' she mused.

"Come on, everyone! We're wasting daylight!" Erza called. "Let us divide the lake into quadrants and conduct a thorough sear-"

"I bet I can find it faster than you," Natsu goaded Gray.

"Oh, it's on! Loser has to wear diapers to the guild for the rest of the month!"

The two men took off running towards the lake, both stopping short when armoured hands clamped down on the scruffs of their necks.

"Idiots!" Erza scolded, "The lake is pouring out over the mountainside into the clouds, we have no idea what kind of-"

Erza stopped short when she noticed Happy stepping into the water, a yellow duck shaped floatie around his waist. Suddenly, the waters of the lake began to swirl, turning a dark red. Happy screamed as he was pulled towards the centre of the whirlpool. "Natsu! Help!"

"Don't worry, Happy! I've got you!" Natsu jumped into the lake and wrapped his arms around his friend.

"Natsu-san! The whirlpool is moving towards the edge of the cliff!" Wendy cried.

"Hurry up and get out of-" Gray turned blue with shock. Natsu's cheeks had puffed up, his eyes taking on a glazed look. "Motion sickness? You aren't even on a vehicle, dummy!"

Lucy sprang forward. "I'll take care of this! Star Dress: Aquarius Form!" She dived into the churning water. "Aqua Ageto!" She brought her palms together above her head and spun in a circle, lifting the water into the air with her. With a snap she spread her hands, parting the waters of the lake. Natsu and Happy fell to the lakebed, inches from the cliff.

"Awesome, Lucy!" Happy said, preparing to carry Natsu to safety.

"Hurry up and get out of there," Lucy grunted, her magic would not last much longer.

Wendy started as she spotted something in the centre of the lakebed. "Charle!"

"Got it!" Charle grabbed her around the waist and the two of them speeded towards the centre of the lake.

"What are you doing?!" Erza shouted, panicked.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Lucy yelled, her shoulders slumping as her magic drained. The walls of water began to crash down, flooding the lake.

"Wendy! Lucy!"

"Don't worry, I've got them." Charle appeared from behind the crashing waves, one paw on Wendy's collar and the other hooked into the waistband of Lucy's skirt. She panted as she delivered them to the shore.

"What were you thinking?!" Erza hurried over to Wendy.

Wendy grinned and held out her hand. An ornate key with an iridescent sheen was clutched tightly in her hand. Lucy glomped her, rubbing her head with her knuckles. "That's our Wendy!"

CRACK! The sound reverberated around the mountainside. Natsu lost his balance as the hillside began to shift and slide under him. "Not again," he mumbled, turning green. Wendy slumped to the ground beside him. "Not you too!" Gray said.

"We need to get out of here!" Happy yelled.

Gray widened his stance, bringing a closed fist onto the palm of his other hand. "Ice Make: Hang Glider!" A massive hang glider began to take shape in front of them all. "Everybody, grab on!"

Erza scooped Wendy up with one arm, clutching the glider with the other. Gray and Lucy secured Natsu between them. They lifted off, sailing through the clouds, heading towards the pastures at the base of the mountain. Behind them, the landscape shifted, the icy snows that covered Mount Zonia melted away, the rivulets of water running into the river that already flowed there. Trees sprung from the soil, foresting the mountainside in shades of green and gold. Red moss crept up the stones that littered the hillside, burnishing the land.

The residents of Geranium Town flooded into the streets, straining their eyes to witness the icy pinnacle of winter that had blemished their countryside turn into a mountain paradise. The group of wizards gliding down the hillside into the forest beyond went unnoticed in the upheaval. Hours later, on the train back to Magnolia, Happy voiced the question that was on everyone's minds. "But why was the Key there?"

Natsu scratched his chin. "Maybe Aconologia was the Dragon Guardian!"

"No," Erza said, "Aconologia completed the quest himself, how could he have been the Guardian?"

"Maybe the punishment Vega-san mentioned included taking over the duties of a Guardian Spirit," Wendy offered.

Lucy frowned. First, Vega had failed to give them all the Rules of the Quest, then the Snake Guardian had attacked them viciously without reason. Combined with the mysterious appearance of the fourth Key; things were not adding up at all. Natsu's head lolled onto her shoulder as he slept beside her, his hand creeping into hers.

She glanced over at the rest of her nakama; they were quietly bickering over something new. Natsu's grip tightened on her hand. She smiled. Whatever it was, they would figure it out. There was nothing she could not do when Natsu was by her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To quote Erza Scarlet: Please forgive my bad manners in not wishing you all a Happy New Year. I meant to with chapter thirteen and then I just kinda... forgot. T_T. Sorry! Happy New Year to you all and I hope you have a great, Grayza-filled year ahead! Which you will, if you sign up to receive the Grayza fanzine at grayza-fanzine (dot) tumblr (dot) com, for which I have written four fics (shameless plug) (one of them is an explicit lemon if you're into that kind of thing).
> 
> Next update might be a bit late because my thesis submission is in 5 weeks and I am 4 weeks behind schedule so (:. But it will come. You don't invest so much time, energy and research into something to just abandon it. This is my baby and my love for Grayza has been 10 years in the making.
> 
> Please leave a comment (especially if it's feedback on the battle scene and if NaLu were in character coz that boy is TOUGH) if you feel like it; email notifications from this website make my day. Thanks for reading!


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